Cracks in the Mirror
by Fictitious Fake
Summary: Sequel to The Tesseract. Helena hasn't seen the God of Mischief for 2 years but things haven't been going well for either of them. Helena's powers have been on the fritz and Loki's been trapped in Asgard, serving punishment for his crimes. What could be called more than coincidence, they meet again and are dragged back into the danger's of the universe. Loki/OC
1. On the Fritz

Helen wet her thumb and then flicked the page of the book trying to look as calm as possible even as spikes of electricity rolled off of her like water. The blue electricity hit metal panels on the wall surrounding. She was sat in a dome like container and her power was being sucked up into one of Tony Stark's generators that whirred loudly and span a huge fan.

"How are you feeling?" Bruce asked through the intercom.

"Peach-a-riffic." She turned the page again but there was a flash at her hand and the paper disintegrated. She growled under her breath and looked through the glass panelling at Bruce who stared in, a sombre look on his face though he always looked like that.

"This is for your own good."

Helen threw the book into the air and it exploded into dust from a bolt, "And how many times has that been said to you?"

His eyes averted from her and suddenly Tony appeared next to him in a wife-beater and jeans.

"No worries Sparky. You're doing this for the good of mankind."

"You mean for the good of your suit."

He shrugged, "Yeah that too but the energy you're outputting is the purest I've ever seen. Who wouldn't take advantage?"

"A decent human being."

"Yeah but those don't exist. At the moment," He pulled a see through screen towards him, "you're getting close to the same power as that Tesseract."

Helen resisted moving her hand to her chest where a cube shaped blue scar was, seared into her skin two years previous in exactly the same building she sat now.

"It's probably why you're emitting so much electrical charge." Bruce said, pulling a screen towards him too and checking over some stats.

"So when will it stop?"

"It's hard to say.

"Just don't go swimming." Tony winked and walked away.

"Well," Helen sighed and stood up, "I've been in here for two hours now. That must be enough?"

"You've still got high levels of-"

Helen ignored Bruce and raised her hands; she took a deep breath then gave a large push.

There was a blinding flash of light, the electricity screeched, controls burst, monitors went off the scales and with a loud bang, the lights went out.

There was darkness for a second or two then a flickering and light filled the space.

"Helen!" Bruce snapped and she glimpsed him tremble for a second.

Helen gasped and put her hands to her head, "Oh Jesus, sorry Bruce. I didn't think." She rushed to the door as Bruce tried to take steadying breaths and clenched his fists. Grasping the wheel, she turned it and stepped into the much cooler laboratory however she ignored the normal cooling down period and rushed to Bruce.

"I am so sorry." She apologised again.

He looked at her and she saw that his eyes had gone slightly red.

"I'm fine." He said through gritted teeth and turned away, heading to the calm room that Tony had built specially for him.

Helen watched with worry just as Tony came back, apple in hand.

"Hey what have you done with the green man Sparky?"

"He err," She glanced at the chamber she had just been in then turned to him and saw he was heading towards his suit, "Is it powered enough?"

"Oh yeah," He took a bite from his apple, "Actually it was fully powered from the last time you did it. I wanted some back-up stuff.

"You lied!"

"I wouldn't call it lying. I just didn't tell you." He grinned.

"Tony."

They both turned and saw Pepper Potts at the stairs with a file of papers in hand.

"What is it snookums?"

She ignored this and said, "S.H.I.E.L.D are on the phone."


	2. Crash the Party

Helen had decided in the last 5 hours or so that she really didn't like S.H.I.E.L.D. Apart from practically ruining her life in a matter of weeks, they now treated her like a child and refused to let her go to China to fight the new super-powered villain.

She was in top physical condition and her power was stronger than it had ever been but no, apparently this was a problem. She couldn't control her power so would be a danger to the rest of the team. She had only blown up a generator, shorted out an entire base of networks and overpowered New York's electric grid. Nothing much.

She skulked through Tony's party that he was conveniently not attending, clutching her 4th vodka and coke. Tony had said that this would cheer her up but it wasn't doing much for her. She edged through the many people all dressed in their best and chatting with everyone else.

Helen didn't know anyone and wasn't quite sure how Tony thought this would cheer her up. Mentally, she reminded herself to hit him when he got back.

Taking a deep intake of breath, she headed to the balcony and let the New York summer air freshen her up. She walked to the edge and placed her glass on the stone then leaned forward and looked down at the road that glowed with car lights.

"Want me to hold you back?"

A tall man stood behind her with slick backed hair and wry grin on his face. Helen felt her heart judder and she quickly looked away, clutching at the stone.

"I think I'm doing quite alright, thanks."

Why wouldn't that impossible God leave her head once and for all?

"Fancy a dance?"

"I'm alright thank you. I'm sure there's someone more pleasant to dance with. I might shock you." She added under her breath.

"Are you sure?" He raised his eyebrows.

"I'm sure but thank you." She smiled pleasantly and he nodded then walked away.

When he was gone, Helen hissed and smacked her hand down, sending a bolt of electricity that hit the glass and made it shatter.

"Helen, are you okay?" Pepper appeared by her side.

"I'm fine." She turned to her with a very familiar forced smile. She wasn't okay. She hadn't been okay for a long time.

"You sure?" Pepper looked genuinely concerned.

Helen softened her smile, "of cour-" Her gaze slid passed Pepper's head to the strange lights on the wall behind her, "I didn't realise there were going to be decorations."

Pepper turned as well with her arms over her stomach, "Oh, maybe Tony put them there. It's probably some gro-"

However Helen had stopped listening as her heart seized in her chest. Those weren't decoration lights.

"GET DOWN!"

Helen grabbed Pepper and wrenched her to the floor.

BANG!

Everything exploded. People screamed. Debris crashed to the floor and everything shook however Helen's training kicked into gear and she stood up and pointed her hand at the growing lights.

"WHERE IS IRONMAN?!" A metallic voice demanded.

"He's out of town." Helen grabbed Pepper's arm and helped her to her feet.

"BRING HIM TO ME NOW!"

"I said he's busy jackass!" Helen shot a bolt into the darkness and it pinged off something.

There was a loud crunch, a metallic clang and gigantic rotund metal suit stepped onto the balcony.

Helen pushed Pepper away, noting how wrongly dressed she was, a dress that flowed around her knees and her suit was back in Tony's lab.

Dammit!

"YOU ARE AN AVENGER?"

"Something like that."

There was a strange noise that was like laughing and the lights on the suit flashed madly.

"THEN YOU DIE!"

There was a burst of fire at the metal feet and faster than expected it flew forward.

She yelped and lunged out of the way but not before exploding electricity at him. There was a hiss and his shoulder burst open.

Helen scrabbled to her feet but her heels slipped, with a kick, the straps burnt off and she stood on bare feet then turned but a huge metal hand smacked into her and crushed her to the ground. She screamed as the floor cracked around her and she stared up at the metal head.

Her heart raced, fear paralysing her.

Where were her friends now? Where were the Avengers?!

"YOU'RE TOO EASY. HOW DID YOU GET INTO THE AVENGERS?!"

The hand pressed harder and pushed the air from her lungs. She kicked and cried out then finding her hand loose, pointed it at the leering head and with a squeal, electricity burst forth.

The machine screeched and jumped back.

Helen gasped, rolled away and scrambled to the edge of the balcony. She balled electricity in her hand and threw it at the metal man. It hit him and he stumbled back but then heaved forward.

Helen's eyes flew wide. "Shit."


	3. Flux

"I'm going as fast as I can Pepper!" Tony snapped.

"Go faster! He's got Helen pinned."

"Get out of there." Tony ordered as he swept over the top of the Brooklyn bridge.

"Incoming call from Director Fury sir." JARVIS spoke.

"What do you want? I'm kind of busy."

"Don't go near Voltage. She's emitting strange electrical waves. It'll short out your suit."

"Yeah well, I can't do that."

"Director Fury is right sir. If you get too close, the suit will lose its power." JARVIS confirmed.

"Then who else is there?!"

The intercoms went silent as Tony urged more power into his feet.

"Sir, if you increase the power anymore, the connections will sever. You're putting yourself in danger."

"When do I not?" Tony rounded a building and at the other end of the street was the building that the party crasher was in.

"Zoom in. Can you find Helen?"

His vision changed on the left side of his helmet and zoomed in, to show the image of Helen on the edge of the balcony, eyes wide as a huge metallic fist swung towards her.

"One hundred percent power!"

"Sir, I would no-"

"NOW JARVIS!"

His feet exploded just as the huge metal fist slammed into Helen. Her body bent awkwardly and as though in slow motion, she slipped backwards then with a huge blast was thrown off the balcony.

"Sir, if you get any closer you will lose all power and crash. I urge you to stop."

"Come on." Tony growled, urging himself faster.

"Sir, the electric currents are in flux. Helena is emitting an unstable amount of energy."

Tony looked to the image on his left however it was easy to see from his distance.

Helen's falling form was beginning to spark. Electricity flashed and burst around her. The air blurred and the temperature soared. The windows in the buildings exploded and showered to the floor.

He was nearly there, just a few more seconds. He could reach her.

Suddenly Helen arched. Her eyelids flew wide revealing eyes that were pure white and her mouth opened in a silent scream. Then there was a strike of blue lightning that pierced through her chest straight out the other side.

BOOM!

A huge shock wave burst outwards and slammed into Tony. His suit shut down and he was flung backwards, shooting down the street. He crashed through the edge of a building, came out the other end and plummeted into the street, tearing up the asphalt into a huge crater.

Groaning, Tony managed to raise his hand and lift his visor, he blinked then looked to where Helen was but she was gone.


	4. Transportation

The stone corridors underneath Asgard were as silent as the grave. Nothing moved or made a noise and the only thing that lived was a lone figure sat on a stone chair, trapped behind thick metal bars.

Blood red eyes exposed themselves for the first time in weeks when a flash of light broke through. Condensed air exhaled from the gaps in between sewn blue lips like mist and there was another flash across his face.

Down the stone corridor, stood on a pedestal and surrounded by a strange wall of magic was the Tesseract. It glowed brighter than ever before, the swirls within it pulsing erratically like a heartbeat.

Then the air began to fizz, it sparked and flashed and just outside of the magic field, a sharp ball of light appeared. It grew larger, spinning faster and faster and then, crack!

A seam broke across the air, there was a scream and Helen crashed through, slamming like a rock onto the stone floor.

Stray electricity rolled off of her, the seam disappeared into itself and the corridors became still again.

Helen groaned; her whole body ached and understandably so.

It took time but she managed to sit up, disorientated. Then she climbed to her feet, surveying the surroundings and grasping her throbbing head.

"Definitely not New York." She grumbled and her eyes laid upon the Tesseract, "Oh. Haven't seen you in a while." She reached out deftly but her fingers dented when she hit a shield, "What's this?" She leaned against it. It was like an invisible wall.

Stepping back, she shook her head then dusted her dress off and turned, looking down the corridors however when her gaze fixed on the corridor to her left, she saw two figures running towards her.

They were huge, armed to the teeth and clutching massive spears.

"Jesus Christ!" She lunged forward and shot up the corridor in the opposite direction. She turned a corner with a stumble then ran on but her mind took that moment to catch up with her.

She skidded to a stop and turned back with a swish, her eyes burning through the metal bars at the lithe blue figure stood inside.

Her breath caught in her throat and her heart disappeared.

Red eyes pierced into hers, filled witch shock and surprise as lips pressed against the threaded binds holding them, wishing to shout out.

"L-Loki?" She stepped forward and grasped the metal bar to stop her hands shaking.

He stepped forward and she watched as the blue began to revert to a normal skin tone and his eyes faded to the familiar striking green.

Her heart returned with a thump and a smile lit up her face, "Loki, I'v-"

Wham!

Two huge bodies slammed into her and crushed her to the floor. She yelped and threw up her hand with a bolt of electricity but it was grabbed and she was pinned to the floor. Her wrists were wrenched down and she hissed as binds clamped over her hands.

"Hey! Let me go jackasses!"

The two huge men grabbed a shoulder each and wrenched her to her feet.

She kicked one of them in the shin but received a bewildering smack to the face that dazed her and made her legs slip out from beneath. One of the massive men grabbed her round the middle and heaved her over his shoulder.

Dazed, Helen briefly caught Loki's wide eyes before darkness enveloped her.


	5. King of Asgard

The next thing Helen knew was the she was being roughly shaken awake.

"Huh? Uh, oh, ow!" She tried to reach up but ended up whacking herself in the chin with thick manacles.

Blinking in the bright light, she didn't have much time to get her surroundings before being thrown to the floor.

"The King will be here shortly."

Helen clambered to her knees, grimacing at the new aches and pains, especially the one on her face.

She glared at either man but her pain was quickly forgotten when she remembered Loki, her heart involuntarily soared.

She'd have to go and save him.

Get him out of there and cut the thread on his lips, then they would go…somewhere. She didn't know where she was now but eve-

"King of Asgard!" The thin man in front of her proclaimed with a bow.

Helen looked up just as the doors opened and she grimaced in the strong sunlight pouring through and then a huge person stepped forward. Blinking, she saw golden like hair, a huge muscular form and grasped in hand was a thick, very familiar hammer.

She blinked in surprise as her mouth fell agape.

"Thor?"

The tall God looked down at her and his eyes widened in shock, "Lady Helena." He rushed forward, grabbed her binds and pulled her to her feet, "How…how are you here? Are you safe? Is something wrong? Are you well?" He placed his hand on the side of her head while his other gripped her arm then he looked at the two men beside her, "Release her at once. Helena is a friend not an enemy."

Both men hesitated.

"My Lord, she was with the Tesseract."

"She is not the enemy. Release her at once." He demanded and immediately one of the men stepped forward and released her binds.

She sighed and rubbed her wrists then face, "Thor, where am I?"

He stared at her, "Do you not know?"

She shook her head even though it clicked just as he said it.

"Asgard. The home of my people. How did you come to be here?"

"I d…don't know. I was in New York…." She filled him in on what happened and the God led her down the corridor to a humungous room. A massive throne stood at the top of the room but Thor took her to a table laden with food and set her down.

When she finished speaking, Thor was drinking something from a goblet and looking thoughtful.

"It must've been the Tesseract or something." She said, picking up a goblet and looking into it.

"You're right. I'll have the Mages look into it but know," He looked her in the eye this time, "That Asgard is now your home. You are welcome anywhere."

She smiled, "Thank you. Hopefully I won't get rugby tackled again." She rubbed her ribs, just noticing how sore they were.

"Yes, forgive them. They have been on a higher alert."

She raised an eyebrow, "Why?" Was Loki trying to escape?

"Outside forces have been trying to breach Asgard."

"Oh. This is going to be a stupid question but why is Loki down there?"

Thor's face sunk and he turned away, taking a large swig from his mug, "The Elders deemed it necessary."

"Oh and…and his lips?"

"They feared he would spread lies to the guards. His silence is necessary."

"Oh." She averted her gaze and felt her stomach sink. She hoped she could visit him. Maybe even a sneak visit.


	6. The Prisoner

Asgard was the most beautiful place Helen had ever been to and it wasn't just the sights that astounded her. The people (or Gods) were beyond kind and went out of their way to please her, though she had an inkling this might've been due to Thor's influence. However even though Helen was basically treated like a Princess, her thoughts were usually on the dark solitary figure hidden under the Palace.

She hadn't seen him since her first arrival and she was positive that she wasn't allowed to either. Even when his name came up in conversation, either something bad was spoken or the Gods fell silent.

The Mages took a special interest in her and showed her the whole of Asgard even taking her to the broken Bi-frost where she met the intimidating Heimdall.

He stared down at her with powerful golden eyes and she instantly knew that his knowledge was far beyond anyone else's.

"I have seen your actions."

A flush swept across her cheeks. Did he mean her and Loki? It was just one kiss!

"And they are honourable. Welcome to Asgard." He gave a smile or at least tried to.

"Err thanks."

The three mages, Junder, Ke'rul and Han turned away as a messenger rode in on horseback.

"Lady Helen."

She turned to the towering Guardian.

"I have also seen into the feelings you share with the traitor."

This time she did go red, "I don-"

"I warn you, his trickery knows no bounds. If you open your heart to him he will blacken it."

She looked to the side of the Bi-frost, twitching her fingers then looked back at him with a smile, "Probably."

* * *

He knew she was there. She was outside, hidden in the darkness of the corridor. How could he forget such an electric aura.

He raised his head and looked through the bars, noting how much his eyes burned red, because without his Frost Giant abilities he wouldn't be able to see her.

She leant against the wall, arms folded behind her back and even though she thought he couldn't see, her brown eyes still avoided looking at him. She looked worried.

He wished he could say something, something sharp witted and clever that would make her bite back or flush but the stupid imprisonment of his lips kept him from doing so.

He wasn't sure if he was happy to see her or not. It had taken too long for him to accept her death and now she was here, living, breathing and waiting for him. But was she waiting for him? He was a monster in her eyes, especially as he sat in his true form and as his eyes tightened into a glare, he saw her shiver and pull her arms forward to rub them.

She was wearing gloves. They looked exactly the same as the ones Fury had given him and even in the dull light; he could see blue veins stretching up her wrists.

Voices came from the corridor where the Tesseract was and she turned her head to them then looked back at him.

Something seemed to click in her and she stepped forward to the bars of his cage and gripped them tightly, looking in at him. She opened her mouth but hesitated and closed it.

He stood and made it to her in less than a second and she looked up at him with a small gasp, her breath condensing in the air. He grasped the bars above her hands and leaned forward pressing his forehead against the bar.

She looked up into his eyes and he felt a clunk come from his heart. No one had ever looked at him like that.

"I…" She hesitated.

The voices from down the corridor became louder and she looked towards them.

He cursed them in his head but it gave him the chance to place his blue hands over hers.

She looked at him in shock but then smiled, "I thought I told you to be careful."

His cheeks cracked into the unfamiliar shape of a smile and he gently rubbed her fingers then she pulled away when her name was called however he moved quickly.

His fingers caught at her gloves and with a tug and a tiny bit of magic, they slipped off of her hands and he pulled them into his cage.

Her mouth fell open and she looked at her hands with disgust then scowled at him, "You're such a jackass." She whispered, shoving her hands under her armpits.

He grinned even though it hurt and then she turned and walked away but he caught a brief smile on her lips.

When she was gone, along with the voices, Loki returned to his seat and sat with a flourish, holding the gloves and running his fingers over them.

Finally. Some entertainment.


	7. Dinner Talk

**Thank you for all the reviews, they're lovely. Thank you for the effort guys. Enjoy :)**

* * *

A huge hand placed on Helen's shoulder and the electricity pouring from her hands stuttered to a stop, halting its course across the broken Bi-frost. Heimdall looked down at her.

"You have a message."

She turned all the way around to see the Guardian was right; stepping down from horseback was a young boy.

"Lady Helena," He bowed his head, "You have been summoned by King Thor."

She raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

The boy looked up. "The prisoner Loki is being troublesome. He has refused to eat unless you feed him."

Her eyebrows flew up into her hairline. "Really? Why would…" She trailed off and stared at the bridge then nodded. "Yeah. I'll come back with you." She looked to Heimdall.

"The bridge will still be here on your return. Mind your step around the traitor."

* * *

Helen stepped into Loki's prison and the huge metal door closed behind her, trapping her inside with two guards and the God himself. His eyes took their time trailing over the length of her and a sly smile stretched over his unburdened lips.

"You've turned into quite the woman Helena. Death must've changed you."

"Death?"

Atop a table next to him were a collection of foods and in front of him was a stool. He had been properly chained; hands behind back, locked by huge manacles that clung to the walls and his ankles strapped to the chair.

"Director Fury told me that you had died up there in that tower. Your heart wasn't strong enough."

She sat on the stool and faced him, her heart racing at the nerves. Why was she nervous? She had no reason to be, she knew this man, God. He was dangerous but not to her and definitely not tied up as he was.

"The Tesseract brought me back. Tony said it restarted my heart. Why would Fury tell you I was dead?"

He looked to the food on the table. "I'll have a drink first."

She eyed him but picked up the goblet anyway and leaned forward to press it to his lips. She was unsure how far to tilt it but he didn't complain when she pulled away, however when she did, she noticed that his eyes were fixed on her.

Part of her wanted to look away but the stubborn part made her keep eye contact, challenging him to do better. She wouldn't be succumbed by…by feelings.

He smirked and leaned forward. "Wouldn't it be more comfortable," He whispered, "If you moved closer. You could even sit on my lap. I wouldn't mind."

"I don't think my boyfriend would approve." Why?! Why would she say that?

"You're a terrible liar."

She scowled at him but moved closer nonetheless until she was literally sitting between his outstretched legs. "What would you like next?"

"You."

She just rolled her eyes. "No one says that anymore. You can have this red thing, I think it's meat." She cut off a section of the red meat and held it out to his mouth.

He eyed her then ate it, and while she busied herself storing the next forkful, his leg fell against hers.

"_I think this is more private."_

She blinked, that hadn't sounded right.

"What are-"

"_Shh, don't spoil it?"_ He was grinning but he wasn't speaking.

Her eyes went wide. "You're-"

"_Shh." _

Her voice was cut short and she choked and put her hand to her mouth. "_You're in my head_!"

"_No need to shout."_

"_But how…..oh my god, can you read my thoughts?"_

"_Only if you show them to me."_

Instant recollections rushed into the forefront of her mind and she went bright red and the gleam in his eyes grew as she squirmed trying to push them all away.

"_I will only pry if you allow me, or if I'm feeling daring. I wonder what dark secrets you keep."_

"_I don't have dark secrets!"_ She hissed, forgetting to feed him.

"_Could have fooled me."_

She scowled at him then shook her head. "_I hate you_."

"I would like the randin next." He spoke normally now.

She blinked confused. "Uh oh right, yeah." She looked at the plate then stared at the arrangement of food, which one was that again?

"The brown mash. I hope you won't take this long otherwise it will turn cold and it'll ruin my appetite for the next month."

"Sorry." She mumbled.

"_Do take your time; I'll miss your enthralling company_."

"I'm going to bloody well throw this over your head if you go on like that." She grumbled.

He tilted his head to the side and a smile graced his face. "_How is midgard_?"

She glanced at him and fed him another forkful. "_Boring, well, it's not but…it's fine_."

"_Has something been troubling you?"_

"_No,_" She lied, "_I'm fine. Everything's fine_."

He frowned, "_You need not lie_-"

"_I'm fine Loki_." She met his eyes in a hard stare and he fell silent.

Helen fed Loki at least half of the plate before he spoke to her mind again.

"_What have you been doing? You smell of the ocean_."

"_I've been restoring the Bi-frost. Since you taught me how to control my power, everyone wants a bit of me._" She took a deep breath, "_I don't mind doing it of course. If I can help, I can help_."

"_And they did the same on Midgard."_

She looked at him only mildly surprised.

"_They have been using your power as a resource. You're a power not a person."_

This was why she shouldn't talk to him. He could take down her walls in a matter of moments.

"_Something like that."_

They fell silent again and Helen quickly realised how fast the food had gone down and they only had one plate left.

"_How are you lips?"_

"_Sore."_

She nodded. "_Stupid question, sorry."_

As the food came to an end, she picked up the napkin and gently wiped his lips.

"_Helena_."

She looked up at him and he gave a small smile.

"_I am glad to know you are alive and well._"

Helen smiled; a good proper smile and she reached out and touched his knee, giving it a squeeze, "_I missed you too."_

"Lady Helena?"

"I'm done." She stood, made sure to give Loki a warm smile then turned and walked away, losing the connection to his mind.

"Maybe you'll give me more of a show next time."

"Who said there'll be a next time!" One of the guards growled as she was shown out.

Loki grinned devilishly. "I did."


	8. Run

The vast ocean below churned in a blackish mess, the Rainbow Bridge flashed and sparked under a constant stream of electricity and stood near the edge was Helen. Her mind was filled with thoughts of everything and nothing all at once, giving her a very vacant look as she stared out over the cosmos.

Wasn't it strange that her powers could fix the bridge? Wasn't it strange that her powers had been over reacting back on earth but now she was on Asgard, everything was fine? Why was Asgard different?

She closed one hand to stop the lightning and raised the other to continue.

Was it because she was doing this? Was the bridge helping her? She blinked slowly and turned her head to look back at Asgard and her thoughts changed to the prisoner, he would know. Loki always knew more about these things than others did.

"What troubles you Lady Helena?"

She jumped and turned to the Guardian.

"What?"

"You are troubled. Speak your mind."

"I err…it's nothing really." She smiled, "It's not important."

"There is nothing that is not important."

She lowered her arm and turned to him, "What do you know about the Tesseract?"

His golden eyes almost seemed to glow.

"It is an ancient power, long forgotten and yet always remembered."

Helen tried not to roll her eyes. That was pointless information.

"What does it actually do?"

"You have seen and felt its power. It opens portals."

"And what else? Can it affect…people?"

"It is unlimited, unknown power."

She looked over him and sighed, turning back to the bridge. She'd go talk to Loki, he'd know. He'd know what everything was about. Also, it wouldn't be that bad to go and see him either.

* * *

The corridors beneath the palace were cold, colder than ever before and Helen could even see her breath. She walked down the steps and immediately her eyes attached themselves to the blue swirling cube of the Tesseract.

Her pace quickened and she had to physically slow herself down from approaching it.

She clenched her eyes closed and her hand went to her chest, rubbing it when she felt again that feeling of fullness and emptiness all at once. She took a deep breath and had to physically and mentally push herself past the cube.

She walked closer to Loki's cell and noticed that it was getting a hell of a lot colder. And then she saw the Guard except he was rather still on the floor.

Her stomach twisted in panic and the Tesseract was completely forgotten as she rushed round the corner.

"Lok-eyyiEE!" She yelped as the floor slipped out from underneath her feet and she slammed hard onto her bum.

She cursed loudly but looked up instantly when she saw movement. A spear struck the space between her legs and she sat bolt upright.

A blue faced, pointy eared freak stared down at her then he snarled, wrenched back the spear and raised it again.

Helen threw up her hand and blasted him across the room to slam into the wall. She scrambled to her feet but almost slipped over on the icy floor again. She stumbled forward and grabbed the bars of the prison just as Loki stepped out.

She blinked and looked up at him.

Wide and mildly shocked green eyes stared down at her.

"Helena."

"Loki."

His lips were bloody and swollen. Blood leaked from the perforations, making his teeth red as well.

A hand snatched at Helen's face, blue fingertips just brushed her nose but then Helen saw that Loki had grabbed the arm. He wrenched the thing towards him and with unparalleled swiftness, snapped its neck and it fell dead to the ground.

They stared at each other, breathing quickly and the silence pressed upon Helen's ears.

"Are you okay?"

He blinked, "I am free."

"I can see that, but why?! I mean, of course why, I know that but…" she turned to the two figures on the floor and pointed to them.

"I have enemies and friends alike."

"Right, yes but err." She was so confused, "How?"

"That is on a need to know basis."

She stared up at him and her eyes slid down to his bloody mouth and she visibly sunk and her eyes softened. She reached up and pulled at the thin scarf round her neck then handed it to him.

"Where are you going to go?"

He took the scarf and wiped at his lips then handed it back.

She wrinkled her nose at it, "you keep it."

He wrapped it round his neck then turned away and walked down the corridor.

Helen looked round then jogged after him.

"Where are you going to go?"

"I will return to where I belong. Where monsters dwell."

"Are you going to be okay?"

He looked down at her, "I will use what is at my disposal."

"How will you get there? The bridge is broken."

"You do ask a lot of questions."

"I'm a nosey person."

He smirked and they turned a corner but as they walked down another hallway, he slowed.

"I hope you realise the circumstances you have placed yourself in."

"And what are those?"

He suddenly grabbed her arm and grinned devilishly down at her, "you have seen me. I must keep you quiet."

She raised her eyebrows to him, "and what are you going to do about sunshine?"

"Oh I have a few tricks up my sleeve." He smirked and with a pull, they broke into a run.

They fled down the corridor and neither protested when their hands slipped into each other's and Helen knew that even if she had the choice, she wouldn't turn back.


	9. It's Not What it Seems

"So-oo where is this exactly?"

"Jotunheim."

Helen noticed Loki's sombre expression and his hand left hers and moved around her back to grip her arm.

"Stay close." He said quietly and he pulled her forward across a baron ice field towards ice mountain structures.

She leaned into him as a biting cold wind burned across her skin and pushed the hair from her face.

They walked for an age, Helen growing colder and colder until she was pressed up hard against Loki, shivering madly.

"Forgive me. I would cast a spell but that would draw unwanted attention."

"I'm fine." Her teeth chattered, making it hard to speak.

He rubbed her arm and they walked in between two giant peaks that turned to cliffs and they soon came to a dead end.

"Turn back."

The voice echoed off the walls.

"I've come to claim my rightful throne." Loki replied loudly, stepping away from her.

Helen started, feeling the cold seep into her bones and freeze her muscles. She looked at him and her eyes widened in shock as his skin began to change. It turned an ice cold blue and his eyes flashed into a deadly red.

There was a loud crack and a huge figure ahead of them moved and the longer Helen looked to the walls, the more she realised how many surrounded them.

Massive blue creatures that were terrifying from a distance, let alone close up and it wasn't long before one of them approached. It seemed to be the biggest and ugliest of them all; red eyes glared down at Loki and in its hand was a deadly looking club.

The cold increased exponentially making Helen gasp and clutch at her chest as the air began to freeze in her lungs.

"Why would a traitor to two of his home worlds return, thinking he can rule?" The Frost Giant asked, his voice cracking oddly.

"I am rightful heir to the throne. King Laufey's son."

"Do you not think he had other heirs?"

Tears of pain rolled down Helen's cheeks and froze to her skin just as her systems started to shut down. Her knees gave in and she hit the ground with a dull thud.

"I am Laufey's son!" The Frost Giant announced, "I, Hyun, rule Jotenheim and decreed long ago that if you ever set foot in my Kingdom, you would die by my hand."

Loki's eyes tightened, "I will not fight you."

"You do not have a choice."

The Giant lunged.

Loki jerked to the side, twisted sharply and drove a dagger through the Giant's leg.

It roared in anger and pain and staggered back but was quick to the get go and struck out with the club. Loki jumped back and with a flash of green magic, the Giant was blinded. It swung out and Loki's heart juddered in his chest when he saw Helena knelt over on the floor.

"Helena!"

The Frost Giant's foot came crashing down and missed her by inches.

Then the Giant swung its club and with a loud crack, it hit Helen.

"NO!" Loki roared and he stumbled into a run but soon slowed to a stop when he saw that the Frost Giant shaking and beneath, Helen was unhurt.

Electricity sparked around her, flashing in erratic bursts, the air pulsated and suddenly the Giant's arm began moving upwards.

Helen started to stand, moving slowly, clutching the Giant's wrist and from that wrist, even darker veins than normal were stretching up his arm. She raised her head and Loki felt his breath catch in when he saw blue veins stretched across her own face, converging on whiter than white eyes.

Power emanated off her in waves as her face grew darker and more monstrous.

At this moment in time, Helen was the most dangerous being on the whole of Jotunheim.

"You are no son of Laufey. Usurper of the throne."

Her voice had changed, it was Helen speaking but there was a resonating emptiness and fullness behind it.

"Claimed by tribal warfare. I know your past Hyun Kinson."

The Giant stuttered, staring at her with wide eyes as the veins bulged onto his face.

Helen stood at her full height and the Giant, Hyun screeched when her grip on his wrist tightened so much that the bone beneath cracked.

"Surrender yourself unto King Loki."

Hyun's frightened eyes turned into a harsh glare, he opened his mouth and in that brief moment, he exploded.

A sharp wind swept through the clearing and the falling blue ash of the former Giant, disappeared in a flurry of snow.

Helen lowered her arm and turned to the other Frost Giant's, her eyes picking out every one of them.

"You will accept your rightful King!" She announced and unbeknownst to them, her voice was heard across the world of Jotunheim.

"Loki Laufeyson will lead you into prosperity. He is and will always be the rightful King of Jotunheim."

There was a long silence but Helen seemed to take this as acceptance and she turned to Loki.

He stared at her, feeling his heart pound in his chest.

"King Loki." She bowed her head to him and in that moment, the power was gone.

Helen sagged, her head dropped and she crumpled to the floor.

He stared, wide eyed and it took a moment for common sense to kick in. He rushed forward and fell to his knees; he grasped her and pulled her round into his arms. She flopped like a rag doll and he watched as the veins faded away and the tension in her body dissipated until she was back, she was Helena Day Hurst again.

He brushed the snow from her face. What had happened to her since he had been gone? She could hardly create a spark when he first met her, and now this?

"King Loki."

He looked up to face a smaller Frost Giant.

"Your throne awaits you."

He blinked and unconsciously pulled Helen closer to him.


	10. Barriers and Walls

Helen sighed as she woke. She shivered and curled her legs up tighter to herself to try and hold in the already lacking heat. She opened her eyes and winced from the light of a flame torch but then she saw Loki, knelt in front of a fireplace, staring deep into the red and gold flames.

She took a deep breath and shivered again. Grasping the covers, she pulled herself up and wrapped the fur tightly around her.

"Loki?" She mumbled.

He twitched then turned round and stood, "Welcome back."

"What happened?" She rubbed her aching head.

"Would you prefer me to tell you the long or short of it?"

She scratched her cheek but flinched when she saw that her gloves were off.

"Here." Loki held out a pair of slim green gloves, "these will keep away the cold."

"Magic gloves?" She smiled and couldn't help the flush that rose to her cheeks when he put them on for her.

"Why's it so cold?"

"This is Jotunheim, the coldest realm in the cosmos."

"Oh, and why are we here?"

He was silent for a moment, his eyes not meeting hers. She pulled the fur to her face and rubbed her cheeks against it.

"It is my home world, my original home world. I am not an Aesir, of Asgardian heritage." He clarified when she frowned at him.

"Oh, so you're the King of Jotunheim and not Asgard?"

His eyes noticeably hardened but he didn't bite.

"How long are we staying here?"

"Until I deem it necessary to leave. This is our haven for a while." He didn't look too pleased about it.

"And it won't be getting any warmer?"

"No."

She sighed, "So what are we going to do here?"

"We?"

"If we're stuck here, we should try and do something. As King shouldn't you like try and sort it out? When I saw…." Helen blinked and looked away, "err when I…" she frowned, she couldn't remember if she had seen or felt or even witnessed what she wanted to say.

"What did you see?" Loki asked, sitting beside her.

"I don't…know. The Frost Giant's are…they're not doing very well." She looked into Loki's eyes, "How do I know that?"

"I think you know."

The colour drained from her face and her stomach did a sickening roll, "Did I hurt anyone?"

"You only did what I would have done."

She frowned then groaned and buried her face into the fur, "I did, that's not fair. I didn't mean to."

"You gave us haven. You forced the Giant's to listen."

Helen took a deep shuddering breath and wrapped herself up into a tight ball. In the silence, Helen reluctantly tried to remember what had happened but whenever a memory cropped up, it was dragged away from her grasp.

"Do you remember what happened?"

She shook her head.

"I do not remember that your powers were so…ineffable. When did you start being able to accomplish such feats?"

"I don't know." She shrugged, "well, maybe. It was just, just after you left."

He stared at her then reached out and placed his hands on her head. She sniffed and looked up at him.

"What are you doing?"

"I can calm you. Do you trust me?"

She eyed him then nodded, "Of course I do. As long as it doesn't hurt." She leaned in closer to him and Loki blinked down at her.

It had been a long time since Loki had been within someone else's mind and in the past two weeks, he had been inside Helen's twice. He moved his mind through her memories, judging which one was best to concentrate on.

"If you wish to close a memory, then do so. It is very simple. There." He smiled to himself as a few memories were suddenly shut off to him.

"What are you looking for? I thought you were trying to calm me down?"

"Anything to do with the Tesseract, and do you not feel calm?" He moved his fingers and they slid through her hair and it wasn't the cold that made a chill roll up Helen's spine.

"Oh, so you figured that out then."

"It wasn't hard." His lip twitched.

"What kind of things do you want to know?"

Memories rushed towards him, almost pushing him out but he held himself and gently rubbed her head.

"Calm yourself. I can manage."

Helen shifted and he felt her move closer. He opened his eyes and his heart thudded. Her eyes were closed and she had completely entrusted herself to him; her skin was pale from the cold and her lips were partially open. He took a deep breath, forgetting that he was in her mind and forgetting that he was only inches from her.

"Loki." She smiled and placed her gloved hands over his, "you're gripping a bit too tight."

"I apologise." He moved back as brown eyes looked up into his.

She smiled, "It's getting warmer now."

"Good. I could not have my prisoner dying on me."

"Prisoner?" She raised an eyebrow, "I thought we were fugitives."

"You are my fugitive prisoner." He smirked.

"I am not. I was never your prisoner when we first met either. You just thought you had control." She stuck her tongue out at him.

"That's the thing you should know about me Lady Hurst. I am always in control." He grinned and they both laughed.

Loki hit a wall. His laugh faded and so did Helen's.

"What's the matter?" She asked quietly, shifting.

"Nothing." He lied, moving closer to the wall. He had never felt such a thing; sure other people had walls to protect themselves but nothing like this. This one burned.

"Loki, wait." She gripped his wrists, "Don't get closer. I can feel it."

"The Tesseract." He murmured and moved closer.

Loki jerked back but Helen's hands suddenly snatched his wrists and held him tight. He grunted in pain, feeling a raging force pushing its way into and through his mind.

"Helena." He gritted his teeth, trying to push her back but even his strongest magic was useless.

"Helena stop, Helena!" He tried to pull his hands away but he couldn't.

His heart pounded then pain erupted making him yell. There was a flash of light and Loki jerked back to stumble back across the room. But the damage was done.

He stared down at Helena, panting with tears streaming from his eyes as tears filled her own.

"No," He whispered, "I locked them away. **How did you get past my barriers**?!" He snarled angrily.

Helen moved back and opened her mouth but closed it again feeling it constrict.

"How dare you!" He spat and with a sharp turn, fled from the room, leaving Helen confused and crying.


	11. King and Queen

Lost in the darkness between realms, Loki had shut off his mind to his body. Numbing the penetrating pain of ice and darkness. It felt like years as he fell through the cracks of the universe, so wrapped up in his thoughts of anger and sadness that it was overwhelming. He had feared the darkness at first but when his mind became forbidding and inescapable, he lost himself to pain and anguish.

Then he had found an escape. A doorway to a new world and there he had met the Others and Thanos. Weakened, he had been taken in by these demons, his mind warped and tortured to the point of madness and change.

He had told them everything. Everything about Asgard, Earth, the nine realms. He hadn't been able to stop himself because the more he talked, the stronger he grew and the clearer his mind became.

The Other's and Thanos took him to world's he had never known about, forced him to commit murder's upon hapless creatures. Learned that power was control. Fear was control. When he had control, he was sane.

And he never felt forced to do such things. He freely struck down beast and intellectual alike, conquering worlds with Thanos. How easy it was. How easy to make them fall.

He spoke of earth. How it was weak and filled with mismatched hate. Filled with pointlessness, it needed purpose.

Then Thanos told him about the Tesseract and he became absorbed in the words of promised power. He could punish Thor for what he had done to him; he could punish him for throwing him into the abyss.

"But he didn't." Helen muttered, "Loki, he didn't throw you. You fell, you gave up." She wiped at her already reddened eyes.

Helen hadn't slept, so embedded in Loki's memories that she couldn't even think to put her head down and rest or even eat. Though what was there to eat on this baron wasteland? With these horrid creatures.

She clenched her eyes and shook her head.

No, she didn't hate them. Loki hated them. She was confusing her emotions with his.

There was a knock on the door and she looked up from the bed, so wrapped up in the covers that it could've been a prison.

"Come in." She called, trying to get the croakiness out of her voice.

The door opened and a Frost Giant stepped in, however he or she, yeah, _she_ was wearing a dress.

"Your Majesty." She bowed.

Helen sniffed, "Majesty?"

The Frost Giantess looked at her, "I have a selection of clothing suited to your needs."

"Oh right. Thanks."

Two Giantesses walked in, their arms burdened with layers of clothing.

"Will it fit me; I mean you guys are err bigger than me." She sniffed

"I have had them cut to fit your needs. Please step off the bed."

Helen really didn't want to. She just wanted to get another cover, wrap up and be left to deciphering Loki's memories.

Slowly, Helen stepped down from the bed and started pulling at the covers.

As they showed her dress after dress, she decided on a red one because it looked the warmest.

They also kept called her "Majesty" or "Highness."

"I'm not a Queen." She commented, as they helped her into the dress.

"You are our Queen."

"But I'm not. Loki's the King."

"And you are his Queen."

She blinked, "what?"

Queen?! Her heart raced.

"Uh, where's Loki now?"

"The King is dining."

"I need to see him." She began pulling at the dress, hurrying to tie it up whilst pulling on the fur embedded boots.

"Your Highness, you are not in a present state to see the King."

"Yeah, well he's seen me worse." She gave a small grin and the hand maiden giants helped her dress faster.


	12. You're still you

Helen entered the dining hall but her pace instantly slowed when she saw Loki.

Sat at the head of the table, the God of Mischief had his face buried in his hands, elbows digging into the stone. His shoulders were slumped and he looked so tired.

"Loki." She tried softly.

His head jerked up and he looked round at her.

"Helena." His voice was choked and he stood, rubbing his hand.

She walked towards him, "I err, are you okay?"

His eyes hardened and he turned away from the table, "I'm fine. I've finished my dinner."

He hadn't touched a thing.

"Loki."

He ignored her and strode towards the door.

Helen felt anger and annoyance bubble in her stomach and Loki jumped as lightning bolted past him and struck the door.

"Loki Laufeyson, don't turn away from me!"

He stopped and clenched his hands.

Helen hesitated, now what did she say?

"What do you want Helena?" He asked sharply.

"Don't take that tone with me Loki." She strode around the table and walked up to him, "Where have you been?! You just bloody well run off and left me freezing."

"You're fine now aren't you?" He glanced at her.

"Yeah, no thanks to you. Why did you run off?"

He didn't answer and instead continued his stride to the doors. Helen rushed forward and stopped in front of him, forcing him to stop.

"Loki, just calm down for a second."

"I am calm!" His eyes flashed dangerously.

"What is the matter with you? Just because of what happened?"

He stared then suddenly his hand snatched out and he grabbed the fur pelt around her shoulders and pulled her up.

"Those memories were mine and mine alone. How dare you think you can share them, how _dare_ you invade my mind." He seethed.

"I didn't mean to." She said, eyes wide and heart racing.

"Of course you didn't mean to." He spat, "No one means to do anything. Everything is coincidence."

"Loki."

"When did my coincidences start turning to failures? Because I am a monster? Because monsters don't get chances, they don't get choices. Monsters have to suffer. I've done my suffering! Why do you look at me like you understand!?" His eyes were blazing.

"I don't understand but you're not helping me." She reached out to his arm but he pushed her away, onto the floor.

"You can't understand. I don't want you to understand." He turned away and walked to the table where he grabbed a chair and threw it to the floor.

"Why not?"

"Because I'M A MONSTER!" He roared.

She stared at his hunched back and a silence filled the room.

"Don't mark me a fool," He said quietly, "I am not some weakling to be easily swayed. I am a God. I wanted power, I wanted them to suffer."

She looked over his tired, hunched form, feeling her heart ache.

"Thor didn't push you off the edge."

His shoulders tensed.

"Thanos altered your memory. You never noticed it because it was so small. I saw…the Tesseract saw that."

He turned to her slowly, "What difference does that make? I still committed those acts. How can you look at me so openly? I could destroy you!"

"Go on then."

He blinked the tears from his eyes.

"Yeah, I saw what you did Loki. I saw everything and I don't understand anything, but I don't care. You're still Loki to me. You're still the same guy who kidnapped me and you're still a jackass. You're my friend and you are not a monster! Not to me. I think you're amazing, you've always been amazing to me." She took a deep breath, "It doesn't matter what you did. It's what you do now. If you can look back and say to yourself that you won't be like that, you'll change."

He looked over her face, her eyes swollen from crying.

"Just because I know what happened…., I think even more highly of you. To go through…to go through what you did is incredible and even though you're damaged, you're here. You're the King, you're alive and…and I wouldn't want you to be any different."

Helen refused to meet Loki's eyes, staring fixedly at a spot right beside him, heart pounding.

"You do not care?" He asked quietly.

"Of course not. As long as you're safe."

He walked towards her and placed his hands on her shoulders.

"I do not disgust you?"

She looked up at him and sniffed, "I don't think you and the word 'disgusting' have ever been used in the same sentence."

He chuckled then tensed when she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him, holding tightly.

"You're such a bloody idiot." She murmured into his chest.

He looked down at the top of her head, wondering if she could hear his thumping heart. What an annoyingly wonderful human being.

Helen sighed, feeling him relax and place his hands on her back.

"What was it you wanted? I presume you came here with a purpose." He asked gently.

She pulled back and quickly turned away before he could see her burning face.

"I, yeah. The Frost Giant's keep calling me Highness and Majesty. Can you get them to stop?"

He looked at her back and then watched as she rounded the table and grabbed a piece of fruit and took a large bite. Juice exploded around her mouth and she choked, jerking back but still holding the fruit in her mouth.

Her cheeks were bright red, her eyes redder, the dress red and the fruit in her hand was red.

Loki couldn't help it. He started laughing.

"Shum ump." She mumbled, searching blindly for a napkin on the table. When she couldn't find one and Loki's laughter increased, she bent over to hide under the table. There was a sucking noise and she re-emerged, hand covering her mouth instead and fruit in hand.

"You're so horrible to me." She huffed.

He pulled a handkerchief from thin air and walked to her but instead of giving it to her outstretched hand; he took her chin and pulled her head up. He wiped across her mouth and she stared up into his eyes, feeling her stomach squirm.

"I'm sure they call you their Queen because you instilled fear into their hearts." He commented.

"But I don't want that. You're the King and we'd have to be married or whatever it is you do here."

"Who says we can't be." He flashed a devious smile.

Helen opened her mouth and had to forcibly snap it closed, "Shut up." She pushed his stomach and he chuckled then pressed the handkerchief into her hand.

"Shall we dine together your Highness?" He bowed to her, sweeping his hand to the table.

"Ha bloody ha." She rolled her eyes, trying to force down the bubbling and tightening feelings.

Helen moved to the seat that he pulled out and sat down, still wiping juice from her mouth. Loki sat at the head of the table and they helped themselves to the food but when Helen started eating, Loki watched from the corner of his eye.

He would do something for her. He would offer her presents and gifts; he would do everything she asked of him. He would do anything for her.


	13. Gift's and Treat's

Lightning exploded on impact but before it could fade, another one smashed into it. Helen twisted round and more electricity struck the stone targets, some bolts ricocheting off to the floor. She smacked her hands together and a huge lightning bolt that enveloped her arms, exploded across the arena. There was a tremendous BOOM and with a creak, one of the targets cracked and crashed to the floor, blackened by her attack.

Helen panted heavily and slid to her knees, unable to stop the shake in her arms but it felt good. Releasing so much energy at once was ebbing away the problem of the Tesseract. The more power she used, the less likely it was for her to explode.

Her breath froze in the air like puffs from a steam train and she leaned back on her legs, glancing to the Frost Giant's that stood in the arena, pretending to train.

Helen would've liked to have stayed on her knees for longer but the floor was freezing.

She struggled to her feet and let out a long breath, wiping the sweat from her brow. If Loki was right then this manic display of her power would eventually lead to her control of it, physically and mentally.

"Could you put up some more targets please?" She asked the Frost Giant who approached her.

He nodded and walked to the fallen targets as another, smaller Frost Giant approached her but she still had to look up at him. He held out a flask of drink and she downed it before knowing what it was.

"PFFFT." The liquid burst from her mouth and she started to choke. "W…what the hell is that?!"

"Frek. A common drink among us Giant's."

"Eugh," she wiped her lips, "let's err find other drinks next time. Thanks."

He bowed his head and walked away but another Giant took his place. He bowed, "Your Highness. You have an…unwanted visitor." The distaste was obvious.

She frowned then looked over his shoulder and her eyes widened with a smile.

"Thor!"

The Thunder God strode towards her from the tunnel entrance, flanked by Guards and looking pretty intense.

Helen rushed forward and smiled at him, "What are you doing here?"

"Are you safe Helena?" He asked seriously, reaching out and grasping her arm.

"Of course I am." She tilted her head, "why wouldn't I be?"

"When Loki fled, I…we believed you to have been kidnapped. Are you not his prisoner?"  
"He thinks I am." She rolled her eyes, "how did you get in? I'm surprised they didn't ambush you."

"They tried valiantly." He chortled and spun Mjolnir in his hand.

"How's Asgard? Is everything alright?"

"Yes, of course. No trouble comes our way. Loki's escape is still the talk of the Kingdom. Is he well?"

Helen closed her eyes and without really knowing how, she looked up over Thor's shoulder to the towering wall surrounding them. A corridor was dug out in the stone and through the gaps, Helen could see Loki walking along it. Except, she could see him as though he was only a few feet away.

He stared down at them, a hardened look on his face and the objects in his hands faded with magic into the folds of his cloak.

Helen blinked and she was suddenly back to looking at Thor whose brow crinkled slightly.

"Are you well?"

"Uh, yeah…" she hesitated then smiled, "yes. I'm fine."

"And the Giant's, they refer to you as Queen." He said slowly, "Yourself and Loki are wed?"

She laughed, "oh God no. it's err, Loki just thought it'd be easier. You know so there's less chance they'd kill me." She lied on the spot and wondered how much the God of lies had gotten to her.

"Good." He smiled, "I was concerned as I had not been invited to the wedding."

"I'm sure the invitation got lost."

Thor turned and his smiling face hardened slightly, "Brother."

"Half-brother." Loki replied sharply, walking around his brother and Helen noticed that he was in full armour, helmet in 'all.

"I still count us as brother's Loki. Even if you do not."

"Have you come to declare war? I do hope so." Loki's eyes flashed and Helen rolled her eyes.

"I would ask if you thought about bringing yourself to justice."

"Bring myself to justice for an injustice?"

Helen looked between the tall brothers.

"The deeds you performed on Midgard receive the same punishment as you would if you had performed them on Asgard."

"The Midgardian's are but bugs to be squashed. They are inconsequential."

Thor's grip on Mjolnir tightened and Loki's eyes flashed threateningly.

"If you plan to remove me from Jotunheim then expect severe consequences,"

The pair of them stared each other out and Loki's staff materialised in his hand. You could cut the tension with a knife and had they noticed, they would have seen the Frost Giant's moving ever closer.

Then Thor looked to Helen, "I insist you return with me to Asgard. You are safer there." He held out his hand.

The tension changed instantaneously and Helen felt Loki's eyes suddenly burn into the back of her head. She smiled at Thor and stepped to Loki's side.

"I'm going to stay here." She didn't want Loki to be alone anymore, "if we get on each other's nerves, I might come and visit."

"Is this what you desire?" Thor asked, glancing at his brother who was trying and failing to hide the smirk on his face.

"Yeah." She looked at Loki with a smile.

Thor nodded, "then I will retreat. I do hope you will visit soon."

"Course I will."

Looking between them both, he turned and walked back the way he had come and the Frost Giant's stepped out of his way.

When Thor had disappeared into the tunnel, Helen crossed her arms.

"So, I'm an inconsequential bug am I?"

Loki's smug expression dropped and he looked at her, "I did not intend that comment for you." He said quickly, "you are superior to the human's. You have power beyond them."

She turned to him and jabbed a finger into his stomach, "Just watch what you say, okay."

"I will do my best." He smiled and she returned it but then looked over him.

"So, where's my present's?"

"Presents?"

"Yeah, you were holding something." She stepped forward and lifted his arm as though the objects he had held would magically appear.

He chuckled, "why would you believe I have gifts?"

"Because I'm amazing." She raised his other arm and then moved round and lifted up his long green cloak, "and you've missed out on my birthday and Christmas presents for two years." She moved around to his front again but as she did, his arms came down the sides of her head and something led across her shoulders.

"I may have picked up something on my trip." He pulled the material into her chest and pinned it with something. He moved back and she looked at herself to reveal that he had tied a cloak around her shoulders. It was a deep red and fell just short of the backs of her knees but it was incredibly warm. She ran her fingers along the edge and marvelled at how light and soft it was. And the brooch that clasped it together was a beautiful white stone that shimmered and swirled in the light.

"You will never be cold again." He said softly, reaching past her head and pulling up a hood, "the tailors have tricks that even I cannot surpass." His hand ran down the back of her head and she looked up at him, beaming.

"It's amazing. I love it." She reached up and pressed the hood to her cheek, "it's so soft. Thank you." Her heart would've gone through the ceiling if there had been one.

She grasped the edges and span round in a circle, letting it flap and she laughed, feeling like a child.

"I also chanced upon these." A metal box with innate carvings appeared in his hand, "I remember you had such sweet delicacies on Midgard and were quite fond of them."

She frowned at him, "what, sandwiches?"

He grinned, "No."

Helen opened the lid and inside were strange stones, multi-coloured green, they didn't look particularly appetising.

"What are they?" She asked unsurely.

"Just try one." He ordered.

Glancing up at him, she removed one and took a bite. It crunched oddly against her teeth but after a few bites, her eyes lit up.

"Chocolate!"

He smiled.

"Oh my God. Where did you get this from?" She threw the rest of it into her mouth and took the box from him to poke through it.

"I know of people and beings." He said, "Are you happy?"

Helen looked up into his green eyes and beamed, "of course I am. This is wonderful, thank you." She stretched up and kissed his cheek.

"Thank you." She repeated, "But I don't have anything to give you."

He pulled her hood down and put his arm around her shoulders, "I need no gifts. How is your training?"

She shrugged and leaned into him, "I'm a lot more powerful than before. Better than those humans ey.'" She winked and he chuckled.


	14. Different Kinds of Magic

Loki closed the stone doors behind him and took a deep breath; he leaned back and looked up to the star filled sky. Silence, it was golden on his ears. At times he feared silence because he had spent so much time in it but now, after all the clattering and growling of the Frost Giant's council, he was glad of it.

He hadn't even known the Frost Giant's _had_ a Council.

There was a loud scraping noise and "Oh fuck."

He blinked and turned to his left, looking along the walkway on the side of the mountain to see Helen leant over the balcony, looking down at the ground. She was covered by the red cloak he had given her and it made him smile.

"Shit." Her voice echoed towards him, "ugh, I'll have to go and get it now." She grumbled, turning around and it took her a moment to realise that Loki was stood there.

She jumped.

"What are you doing here?"

He titled his helmeted head, "I do live here."

"Oh." Then she tilted her own head and stated, "You're blue."

He looked down at his hands and realised she was right. He hadn't even noticed. He glared at the blue skin with ancient lines sculpted into it.

"The Frost Giants are literally getting under my skin." He muttered disdainfully.

He flinched when Helen suddenly appeared underneath him, squinting up, "I never noticed before," she said softly and a finger pressed to his forehead and traced one of the lines, "You have like lines. That's so cool." Then she huffed, "Do you ever look ugly?"

He looked over her face in the flickering flame light and his tongue was caught. He clenched his toes, trying to think of some quick, witty comeback but…but all he wanted…

Helen smiled and stepped back, "I dropped a bowl over the edge." She jerked her thumb to the balcony, unnerved by his stare, "I need to go get it."

She sidestepped him but stopped when he caught her arm.

"Would you mind being in my company a little longer?" He asked gently.

She looked up at him to watch as his armour faded to a casual cut and the helmet went with it, "I really should go and pick up the bowl. I hope I didn't hit anyone." She added as an afterthought.

He smirked and steered her towards the balcony, "a Queen does not 'pick up' broken objects. It is unsightly."

She lifted herself up onto the balcony and Loki sat beside her, his long legs stretching onto the floor while hers hung off the edge. But he soon noticed that Helena was staring at him.

He inwardly cringed.

Helen couldn't look away. His skin was absolutely fascinating. He could have been a completely different person, except the way he held himself and the way he had a slight tightness to his face made him Loki. The lines trailed down his neck and she wondered what the rest of his body looked like under the influence of his Frost Giant heritage.

Her hand slid to her chest and she took a deep breath.

"So…are you cold? Like the Frost Giants?"

"I do not know. People tend to stay away from me when I am in this form." He said, bitterness lining his words.

Helen felt her heart soften and she smiled then nudged him, "then they're just unlucky aren't they. Here." She stretched out her gloved hands to him.

He looked down at them, confused.

"Could you take them off?"

He was even more confused now but complied, reaching out and slipping the gloves off to reveal blue veins littering the skin. Disgust filled her face and she shook herself then looked up.

He moved back when she reached for his face.

"I do not wish for you to come to harm Helena. I have seen the damage these Giants can do."

"These hands are damaged enough. Trust me." She smiled warmly.

He looked over her face and he saw nothing but trust from her.

"Very well but if you-"

Helen placed her hand on his cheek and he flinched back but she kept her hand there.

"It's cool." She said, eyes lighting up, "well cold, like you've been outside for ages." She reached up her other hand but stopped.

Loki's eyes widened, "are you hurt?"

"No-o." She said slowly, frowning, "You're changing back. Your skin."

The blue was fading away, being overtaken by pale human flesh and the lines were disappearing, she missed them but smiled anyway. Moving her hand again, she held his face in both of her hands, "it must be human contact. You must change when…err you know, you're exposed to different people." She looked over his face, watching as he returned to his Asgardian form, "that's so lucky. I wish I could change."

Even though Helen babbled and seemed completely at ease, her heart was hammering. If only she had the courage to lean forward and kiss him, he was closer than ever but what if he rejected her? What if he didn't like her?

The awkwardness settled between them and for some odd, stupid reason, Helen suddenly squeezed his cheeks together.

He blinked and frowned, "What are you doing?" He asked, voice mumbled from the strange position of his lips.

"I have no idea." She laughed and he chuckled then reached up and pulled her hands away, smiling fondly at her.

"May I ask you hold my hand, to quicken the process?"

Her cheeks went red but they were already red from the cold so fortunately he didn't see.

"Sure." She smiled and slid her hand round his and let it rest between them, "what did you have to speak to the Frost Giants about?"

"Hmm, they mostly growled. Since Laufeyson's untimely death, there have been civil wars breaking out. I am to rectify them, ease their anger."

"How are you going to do that?"

"Words are strong, they will help me."

"Oh good, you avoided the question." She smirked and he chuckled.

"I am careful and wise. I have had hundreds of years of practice."

"Hundreds?"

He watched her face sink and turn into a frown.

"I must look like a kid to you."

"Thor is more childish than you and he is over seven hundred years old. However you do act childish sometimes."

"No I don't." She whined like a child and they both laughed.

They sighed into silence and Helen ended up tilting her head to look up at the sky.

"Hey Loki," She nudged him and he looked at her, "When you next decide to take over and become King, could you like choose somewhere hot. Like a beach. That'd be nice."

"You're a Queen. You can conquer where you wish without my help."

"I don't conquer. That's your job."

He chuckled and then felt her hand leave his as she stood and rubbed her bum.

"Jesus, my bum has gone numb."

"You humans are so weak. Here." He reached out and pulled the cloak around her and lifted the hood over her head, pulling it tight, "there, like a baby."

She stuck her tongue out at him and he grinned then stood and she looked up at him.

"Why are you so tall? Did you use magic to make you taller?" She was talking crap now but she couldn't think of anything else to say that would not mean blurting what she really wanted to say, "Can you make me tall."

"No. I enjoy looking down on you."

Her eyebrows flew up and she huffed, "that's not fair."

"Life is rarely fair, and I would not change you for any different."

"Just one little spell?"

"No."

She pouted then walked away, holding the cloak around her tightly, feeling warmth seeping into her skin.

"Have you been wearing that cloak since I gave it to you?" He asked, following slowly.

"Yes, and?"

"I did wonder what that smell was."

She stuck her fingers up at him and he laughed. Helen stepped up onto the bench on the other side of the balcony and turned to him, "can you make me this tall? Then I can look down on you."

He walked up to her, "Beg me and I'll think about it." He smiled mischievously.

"Beg? I don't beg."

"I bet I could make you." He stood in front of her and placed his hands on her waist and with a lift, raised her then placed her on the floor, "but I do prefer you short."

She smiled up at him, "Not at all the dominating type then?"

He turned and sat on the bench, "not at all." He grasped her cloak and pulled her down next to him, his arm sliding around her back. She chuckled and they slid into silence, Helen warmed by the cloak and Loki's arm.

Then, when she turned to him, to ask him a very important question, the door opened and a Frost Giant stepped out.

"Your Majesty's." He bowed his head, "King Loki, Kal'uk wants to speak with you."

Loki's eyes tensed, "Tell him I am busy."

"He insists my Lord."

Loki 'tchd' then nodded, "I'll be there in a few moments. Don't disturb me again." He threatened.

Helen looked up at him as the door closed, to see him frowning in annoyance.

"You should go." She stood up, "it could be important."

"Nothing these Giant's say is important." He said disdainfully then he looked up when Helen knelt down and went to kiss his cheek but some crazy nerve made her move and kiss his lips.

At least the edge of them.

"Uh," She pulled back, but with the pound of her heart he grasped her arm and pulled her into a proper kiss.

He held her jaw and Helen's eyes fell closed instantly as her heart soared. She felt her leg twitch and rise up behind her but she quickly tucked it behind the other one, trying not to burst with happiness as she leaned into his lips.

He pulled back but she kissed him again, gripping his shoulder. Loki smiled and stood up, not once leaving her lips. He stroked her cheek with his thumb and slowly pulled back a few inches.

Green eyes filled Helen's sight and she blinked mouth slightly agape then his arm slid around her waist and gently rubbed the small of her back.

She lifted onto her toes and kissed him but this time with a lot more depth and courage. His other arm went around her back and he pulled her against him, clutching tightly.

"You have a meeting to get to." She muttered when their kisses became longer.

"Not anymore I don't." He smiled and rubbed his nose against hers, his green eyes shining.


	15. Keen Ear and Keen Heart

**Just want to thank you all muchly for your reviews and messages, I do greatly appreciate them. Love them and you :) Enjoy xxx**

* * *

Helen walked through the stone and ice corridors of the palace, familiarising herself with the paths and rooms. She was definitely interested to find a room that showed a 4d map of the universe that could be moved at will. After playing around in there for a while, she was summoned to dinner. However when she approached the doors that led to the dining hall, she could hear loud voices from the other side.

"What's going on?" She asked the guard.

He bowed to her, "King Loki is conferring with one of the rebels."

"Oh. Open please."

He pushed the door open and she walked in and the voices fell silent instantly.

The Frost Giant at the end of the room, draped in a red cloth tensed and his eyes widened. Helen inclined her head to him then walked to Loki's side as he sat in the throne, legs stretched out in front of him. She sat down in her own throne, hiding the fact that it was cold and hard.

There was a long silence as the Frost Giant looked between them both unsurely.

Loki sneered and rubbed his lip with his finger, "Continue Harger."

"My people in the south have been suffering for centuries. Our food is taken by you…taken by the upper Giants. We grow weaker with each passing sun. Since Laufey fell, everything has gone into disarray and since you and your," he looked at Helen with disgust, "wife have been here. We have been under attack. Since you have been in rule, I have lost five brothers. While you lavish yourself in the finer things, my friends, my family and my people suffer!"

"I have been to the south Harger and from what I can tell, you have been the tyrant. Causing upsets wherever you tread."

"I have my kin to protect!"

"Is that true? Or have you been stealing more land to protect."

"You know nothing traitor!"

"I have returned to Jotunheim as the King to bring prosperity but I will not be foolish enough to let you continue on your rampage."

"You do not listen bastard son!"

Loki jumped to his feet and slammed his staff onto the floor with a resounding bang and his skin flushed blue and his eyes flashed red.

"I am your King! I listen with keen ear and keen heart. I order you to return to the south to await my judgement. I will arrive with the business of correcting Jotunheim in the right way. There will be no civil wars. I will be the beginning and the end. I am your rightful King and I will do what is needed even if it is not right.

Now remove yourself from my sight."

Harger glared dangerously but Loki's stare was much more threatening so with a screech, he turned and left and the giant ice doors slid closed with a bang.

Loki took a deep breath then stepped back and sat down. He drummed his fingers on the armrest, grinding his teeth then started when Helen slipped into his lap. He looked up at her and was met with a pair of intense brown eyes.

"That was amazing." She muttered, raising her hand and waving the guards away.

He raised an eyebrow.

Helen looked over his blue face, marked with strange cuts then she leaned down and kissed him deftly, letting her fingers dig through his hair and across his neck. He returned her vigour and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her closer.

However when his cold lips began to physically burn hers, she pulled away and let the mist flow from her mouth.

"What was that for?" He asked, "not that I protest."

Helen toyed with the hair at the back of his neck and shrugged, trying to look innocent, "I just wanted to see what power tasted like." Her tongue flashed across her lips and Loki's eyes dilated and his grip around her tightened.

"Did it taste good?" He murmured as her lips brushed across his jaw and climbed to his ear and his nerves twitched as her breath hitched.

"It tasted good. Really good." Her tongue traced the curve of his ear as her hand ran down the length of his arm and grasped onto his hand which she pulled in between them and positioned on his lap.

Then Helen pushed away and stood up, looking down at him with a very smug expression however she placed both hands on the armrests and leaned over him, "how about we skip dinner?" she gave him a swift kiss and pulled away before he could grab her.

She turned and walked away, confidence dripping off of her and as her hips swayed intoxicatingly from side to side she called, "Your wife requires your attention."

Loki watched, mouth slightly agape. Where had this sudden overpowering sexuality come from?

His heart thrummed and he didn't need to tell his legs twice to get up and follow her.

* * *

When Loki reached the bedroom, he slammed the door behind him and locked it but the first thing he noticed was that Helena had her back to him. He strode forward wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her round, crushing his lips against hers.

She gripped his shoulders and pushed him back, struggling slightly.

He looked down at her, eyes searching.

"Loki I…" she looked around hesitantly.

He reached up and brushed the hair from her face, not quite understanding why he had never noticed how beautiful she was.

"You are exquisite."

She blinked at him in mild surprise, "Loki." She stepped back placing her hand on his chest, "there's uhmm before we err." She glanced at the bed, then reached up and began unfastening the top of her dress.

Loki was more than confused but kept silent and watched.

"When I was dying or dead more like I guess, do you remember?" She looked at him, hesitant about bringing up the memories of his defeat.

"Of course I do." He remembered without fondness and he reached out and rubbed her arm.

"Well this happened." She pulled her dress down just above her breasts and exposed the crude blue square scar. Blue veins stretched outwards from it, the same as the veins that littered her hands.

"The Tesseract gave me a bit more than I wanted." She gave a weak grin and pulled him to the bed, "it's not the most attractive thing," she said, not quite meeting his eyes, "I guess you could say the same for my hands."

They sat down and Loki reached out and ran his fingers over the scar which was warm under his fingers, "why didn't you tell me?"

"I haven't told a lot of people. I've been trying to ignore it."

He looked at her then slid his fingers up her chest and onto her neck.

"Is this a warning in case you electrocute me?" He raised an eyebrow, a playful grin on his face.

She pushed his shoulder with a laugh then took his face in her hands and kissed him tenderly, hoping to show how important he was, "thank you."

He brushed his nose against hers and looked into her eyes, "what for?"

She shrugged with a small smile, "for just being you."

Loki blinked and felt something burn in his chest and his grip on this woman, this human, tightened.

He reached up and her held her cheek, "I will never let you leave me again." He whispered.

She smiled at his possessiveness, "can I at least go to the bathroom a few times?"

"No."

He kissed her and led her back on the bed, his fingers sliding nimbly over the skin of her neck. The pair met each other's needs and moved to accommodate them. Loki lifted Helen and placed her up against the pillows where he moved to her neck, kissing, sucking and biting at the flesh.

Helen loved the feeling of him just wanting her. His large hands rubbed and caressed her body, he did not forget an inch of her and Helen felt useless in the return. Every time she would try to reciprocate his touching, he would hold her arms down and kiss her with a mischievous grin.

Only when Helen struggled to move out from under him did he chuckle and speak.

"My Queen, do not rush to such wonders. I am going to give you everything you could ever desire." He kissed her ear, "or do I have to chain you up?"

She gulped and licked her lips.

"Actually," he sat up, straddling her waist and he grinned, "that doesn't sound like a bad idea."

"What? Don't Loki." She warned and he chuckled, reaching to the top of her dress and slipping his fingers under it then with a few muttered words it disappeared.

"Loki!"

"Would you like me to close my eyes?"

Helen snatched her arms up and covered herself, going bright red in the face.

"You get undressed!" and even as she said it, his clothes disappeared too.

Helen kept her eyes staring pointedly at his face and she watched a concerned look crease his brow.

"Are you still flowered my Queen?"

She blinked, "flowered?" then she smirked, "no, of course not. Shut up."

He smiled and leaned down to kiss her, his hands wrapping around her wrists and lifting them to pin them beside her head but she felt something strange.

"Loki." She said against his lips, "did you just take my gloves off?"

"Uhm hmm."

"But-"

He sighed and pulled back to look into her eyes, "Helena, when I plan on taking you to places you have only dreamed of, I want you, all of you."

She bit her lip and tried to hide her smile.

"Now if you will stop protesting, I will continue."

"You're such a jackass."

He laughed and kissed her hungrily, sinking her into the bed. His hand moved from her wrist and slid onto her waist, he trailed his fingers over her skin, making her twitch as his feather light touches tickled. Her insides were burning and there was the undeniable ache coming from between her legs which she very much hoped he would appease soon.

Loki left her lips and trailed down her throat and onto her chest, pressing butterfly kisses to the blue scar ingrained there, his hand moved onto her leg and rubbed up and down then he pulled back, a frown on his face again.

"What?" worry gripped her words.

His eyes trailed over her body to the left of her hip, "you have a tribal mark."

Helen smiled and sat up, she gripped the side of his neck and pulled him into a tongue filled kiss, her other hand slipping onto his chest to scratch teasingly at his skin.

"I'll tell you about it later."

His green orbs burned into hers and she trailed her fingers down his chest, stomach and into the dark curls below his waist where she took his length into her hand. He kissed her, pulling her closer against him and she moaned happily.

Helen rubbed him up and down feeling him harden even more in her hand, she trailed kisses down his neck to his chest and a small squeak escaped her mouth when his fingers curled through her legs from behind and began to rub her clit.

He chuckled darkly and teased the nub, relishing at how wet she was for him. Helen flicked out her tongue and licked over his nipple and a moan vibrated against his chest when he slid one finger into her.

He wanted her so bad but he was worried she wasn't ready; he needed her like he needed air. With a growl, he moved his arm and pulled her legs from out beneath her; she hit the bed with a bounce and he towered over her, dominating her lips instantly, rubbing his length against her thigh.

Helen dug her fingers into his hair, feeling his desperation increase and it just sent the burning inside of her to a higher temperature.

He kneaded her breast, squeezing the nipple between his fingers, his lips, teeth and tongue playing at her neck, making small gasps escape her throat.

"Loki." She moaned as his hand moved down into her damp curls to tease and rub. She curled her toes and lifted her legs, trapping him between them and he smiled, dipping one then two fingers into her entrance. Her gasp came with the combined feeling of his penis rubbing against her belly.

Her sex ached and her hips rose to allow his fingers to sink deeper into her.

"My Queen." He whispered and she looked up into his eyes, mouth slightly open.

His hand moved from her sex and he shifted himself; Helen's eyes widened when he pressed the tip of his penis to her entrance and she licked her lips in anticipation.

"My King." She arched up and brushed her lips to his.

He smiled, eyes searching hers and without blinking, pushed into her.

They both groaned and Helen clutched the backs of his shoulders as his arm wrapped underneath her shoulder and his other hand clutched her hip. He sank into her as deep as he could, Helen revelling in the sensation of him filling her and Loki relishing in how hot and wet she was.

He pulled back and moved in again, sighing at the feeling of being consumed by her. He tried to take it slow but he couldn't, it wasn't possible to draw this out any longer. The one being he wanted to be this close to was now underneath him, giving him everything and he wasn't going to deny himself that pleasure.

Helen groaned with every thrust that he pushed into her, his speed soon becoming erratic and uncontrolled. Every thrust lifted her hips off the bed and he pressed his forehead against hers, biting his bottom lip.

Helen struggled to meet his tempo but when her climax began to reach its peak, she met his thrusts, gasping at how fast he stroked her inner walls, filling her more deeply than anyone ever had.

"L-loki." She groaned, indescribable noises escaped her mouth as she reached the point of no return.

Unable to contain his own grunts and groans of pleasure, Loki sped up and underneath him Helena arched, crying out as she came.

Molten fireworks exploded throughout her body and Loki's grip tightened as he felt his own release coming and he groaned, feeling her walls clench around him in her release.

He should pull out. He should pull out. He shoul-oh he couldn't. She was so wonderfully hot and open to him. He stopped as he felt it and with a guttural groan, he jerked into her body, letting his hot cum spill into her.

Helen slid back against the bed and looked up at him, panting, her nether regions aching delightfully.

Loki licked his lips, breathing heavily and he looked down at his flushed Queen, her eyes sparkling and a small smile playing at her lips. He returned the smile and after a moments wait, where he recollected his thoughts, he pulled back and gave her a chaste kiss. He led down and they stared at the rocky ceiling, calming their breathing.

Only when Helen shivered did they move, she sat up and grasped the cover pulling it up over them where she then cuddled up against him and he put his arm around her. He leaned down and kissed the top of her head.

She smiled and put her arm over him, feeling extremely content. So much for that time a few days ago when she had been worrying about even kissing him; she smiled to herself and nuzzled into his chest.

He glanced down at her and smiled, when was the last time he was this satisfied? Not just with sex but having someone with him who cared so much that she would withstand the cold of Jotunheim and his attitude. Why had it taken so long to notice her?

"Helena?"

Her response was heavy breathing and he smiled then shifted down and pulled her into his arms for a proper cuddle, letting her sleep before he woke her for their next bout of nightly fun.


	16. Smile

Something was gently rubbing Helen's head and she smiled to herself feeling Loki's legs pressed up against hers.

"Good morning." She opened her eyes and looked at the black haired God led opposite, head on hand.

"Morning." He ran his fingers down her neck onto her shoulder then leaned forward and kissed at where his hand had been.

"Do we have to get out of bed?" She moved forward and slid her arms around his neck, nuzzling into his ear.

"You can do whatever you want. You are a Queen."

"Uhhmm can I tell you what to do?"

"You certainly were not shy about telling me what to do earlier." He grinned.

Helen laughed and wrestled him onto his back, "I thought you were the one controlling it all."

"I only do as you wish." His eyes flashed deviously and he kissed her, he never wanted to stop kissing her.

She pressed her nose into his neck and settled there, feeling his heart thumping through her body as he traced his fingers over her back.

"How are you finding your new home?"

"Cold but it's not bad. The Ice Giants are pretty cool. What do you think of it?"

She glanced up at him to see him staring up at the ceiling, a frown creasing his brow. As she waited, she decidedly started kissing his chest, brushing the skin with her nose, he was so smooth and cool to the touch.

"I was raised to hate the frost giants. They were the monsters my mother spoke about at night. I don't think I can ever see them differently and I am one of them." His voice suddenly filled with spite.

"My dad was a diabetic. Doesn't mean I'm one."

He looked down at her.

"It sounds cheesy but your blood doesn't make you who you are. Everyone's so cooped up on that fact, you are who you are. It's not where you come from; it's where you're going."

Loki stretched his fingers down her arm and took her hand into his, squeezing it.

"I never understood Helena," he rolled over and she fell onto the bed with a bounce, he shifted down till he was facing her and slid his fingers through hers, "why you attached yourself to me."

Helen leant up on her elbow, "maybe psychotic, mischievous Gods are my turn on. I hope there aren't more of you." She smirked and kissed him.

"Psychotic?" He didn't sound too impressed.

She smiled, "I just like you. I think you're pretty amazing."

He searched her eyes but found nothing to doubt her words, "you are such a strange human."

"I'm not exactly a normal human." She looked down at their hands to find them covered by gloves, "I missed you when you were gone."

"It was worse for me, I thought you dead."

"I wonder why Fury told you that."

"I expect it was to get at me. He wanted to exert some power that he could upset me."

"Were you upset?"

He leaned forward and kissed her but it wasn't swift and chaste, it was deep and meaningful and she knew that it had.

"I bet you were glad to see me." She said as he began kissing along her jaw.

"It was somewhat a relief."

She chuckled and pushed his arm playfully but he pulled himself back by kissing her. Helen smiled happily and he returned it, causing them to both end up laughing at nothing.

He laid beside her, smiling as she slid her fingers through his and pulled them to her lips.

"Before I forget such matters." He reached out and lifted the bed cover making her flinch from the rush of cold air, "your tribal mark. I am intrigued."

Helen pulled the cover down, "It's a tattoo, that's what we call it. It's just something I got when I was a teenager, after my Mum died."

His eyes found hers, "I apologise, I did not know."

"Because I never told you." She smiled, "I got it to mark a new beginning."

"And why is it in the form of a hummingbird?"

She shrugged, "it looked nice."

He slid his hand on to her cheek and gently stroked it, smiling and she returned the smile, sinking into the pillow and watching, just happy to lie with him.


	17. Malekith

The plains of Jotunheim were long and deadly looking but on the fields, between huge rocks and crevices, Helen could see Frost Giant's moving yet she wasn't really watching them. Her thoughts were on earth. How long would it be before she'd see it again? She couldn't imagine that Loki would want to go back there.

How would she even get back to earth? Thor said that the bridge connecting the world's was broken.

She drummed her gloved fingers on the balcony. In fact, how had it been possible for her to get to Asgard in the first place? Had her powers somehow turned into a portal making thing? She leaned over the edge of the balcony and her vision swam at the sight of the sheer drop but this didn't stop her. Grasping the stone, she brushed aside the snow and stepped unsurely onto it. She wobbled, straightening and splayed out her arms, keeping a very close eye on how close her feet were to the edge.

Surely if she dropped from such a height again, she'd be able to make another portal.

It was a stupid bloody idea but she stood straight and looked out ahead anyway.

Just to get out of the cold would be worth something.

Maybe she could bring a heater back.

But then how would she get back? Jump off another building? It all seemed a bit extreme.

Feeling her leg unstick itself reluctantly from the stone, she lifted it up and let it hover over the edge.

What if she couldn't get back? She'd never see Loki again. Her heart sunk. She knew that she could never abandon him, not again.

"Is it a better view up there?"

Helen almost jumped out of her skin and slipped. She yelped and fell back but someone caught her and held tightly. Gasping, her heart miles away, she looked up and flinched at a light blue and dark blue face. It was pointed and sharp, even the eyes had slits in them like a cat.

She flustered and wriggled out of the being's arms, quickly noticing pointed ears.

"Who're you!?" She demanded, he definitely wasn't a Frost Giant.

He smiled but it wasn't a friendly one, "I am Malekith. A friend to Loki."

"Oh." She said slowly, "thank you for…" she jerked her thumb at the balcony as her heart returned from its journey and his smile grew.

"I could not let Loki's Queen endanger herself. May I ask what you were doing up there?" He walked to the edge and looked down, "it seems a bit far to jump for a human."

How did he know she was a human?

"I was uhhm trying to see something better."

"You have the whole Kingdom at your command. Surely you could easily get a Frost Giant to take you?" He looked back at her and she knew she had been caught.

"Yes, well," she shrugged, "can I help you with something? Loki isn't here?" How had he gotten in anyway?

"Yes in fact." He stepped back in front of her, "I wanted to give Loki a gift to thank him for helping me."

"Right."

"Something small. Something precious."

"What did Loki help you with?" Helen wondered when she had gotten so paranoid about people. Hanging round Loki probably didn't help. She had to question his motives all the time.

"He helped me gain a very important item that will lead to my success. He's a very generous God."

That was a lie right there but Helen held her tongue and just smiled, "yeah he's like that."

He wasn't, not at all, if he wanted something he would play to a person's needs. Malekith obviously had had something that Loki wanted.

Malekith suddenly moved his hands in a circular motion and in them appeared a glittering crystal, it hovered a few inches above his palm and he held it out.

"What is it?"

"It stores your dreams. Then if you hold tight enough, it will show you what you have forgotten."

"Oh." That was definitely strange but she reached out and took it anyway, "thanks." She wasn't quite sure what to make of it.

She looked up at the tall being, feeling the edges of the crystal dig into her skin, "I'm sure Loki will like it. " She was sure that Loki would probably throw it out the window.

"I hope you enjoy it." He reached out and took her hand and kissed the top, "I'm afraid I must leave. I have an excursion to make."

"Going anywhere nice?" She asked, following him into the Throne room.

"I have some business with a newly appointed King." He smiled, bid goodbye and left.

The door closed and Helen's face dropped into a scowl; that had been weird. Who was Loki hanging round with these days?

One of the Guards stepped in and bowed to her, "Your Majesty."

Helen rolled the crystal in her hand, "who was that?"

"Who was who?"

"That man, half blue face and err half err lighter blue face." She said unsurely, walking towards the Guard, "you must've just walked past him."

"I saw no one, your Highness."

"But he just left." Helen urged and the Giant stared at her in confusion.

"I saw no one."

Helen stared at him, confused and then she looked to the crystal in her hand. But she had seen him. Her hand suddenly convulsed and the crystal dropped to the floor. It hit the stone and cracked.

The throne room exploded.

Helen was thrown off her feet. She flew through the air and smashed into the wall and her spine cracked but it was deafened by the exploding ice and stone. She crumpled to the floor, eyes wide and mouth gasping.

The Frost Giants watched as ice and stone showered down to the floor from the throne room and struck like spears.

Then there was another flash of light but this time it came from Helena herself. She arched on the floor, breath rushed into her lungs and her eyes shone a bright electric blue. The veins on her arms stretched onto her shoulders then there was a flash of lightning that struck her through the chest and she disappeared.


	18. Casket of Ancient Winters

Thump!

Helen jerked violently and a bolt of lightning burst from her hand and struck the opposing wall. She took a deep intake of breath and stared up at an icy ceiling, noticing instantly how cold it was.

Had Jotunheim gone down a few degrees?

Shifting on the floor, she slowly started to stand and as she did, noticed something strange. She wasn't in the throne room anymore, in fact she was in a corridor and on a plinth next to her was the Tesseract.

She stared at it then hissed when she remembered what had happened.

"Bastard."

Malekith had tried to kill her. Except he had, hadn't he? No. That was the second time she had been transported now. What was going on?! Her hand instinctively went to her back when she remembered the indescribable pain but it was fine, in fact she felt better than ever. Except that she was freezing cold.

Her breath froze in the air and she noticed that no Guards were running towards her. Everything was deadly silent.

Reaching out, Helen wasn't surprised to find the Tesseract still surrounded by a wall of magic. Tapping her fingers against the barrier, she stared in at it, wishing she could touch it. Just a bit more power. A bit more strength.

Helen could've stood there for hours and she wouldn't have realised, reluctantly she pulled away and hooked her furry hood over her head then headed towards the exit, unable to not look back.

Everything was covered in ice and snow. Asgard had nearly disappeared underneath it all and there were huge clumps of ice dotted around the corridors.

Helen kept walking even though it went against her gut instinct to turn tail and run. But run where? How could she get back to Jotunheim?

"Thor?!" She called and her voice echoed into nothingness.

She entered the Throne Room to find it filled with more huge ice blocks.

"THOR!" She shouted, walking towards the Throne itself.

Emptiness.

"Where is everyone?" She asked herself, walking up the steps and turning round.

5 beings stood at the bottom of the steps making Helen flinch.

It was the Elves, the same Elves that had freed Loki.

"Who're you?" She asked, stepping back. They didn't look particularly friendly.

The 5 of them glanced at each other and Helen felt her stomach drop when pointed weapons materialised in their hands.

"Ah crap." She muttered and they lunged.

The closest one was hit by a punch of lightning and it flew backwards with a scream but the other was too fast and it struck Helen round the waist and slammed her onto the floor. She yelped and the breath was knocked out of her. She swung her hand up and smacked him hard in the face with an electrical charge. He screeched and flung himself away.

Helen kicked out and struck one in the jaw, more by accident. She clambered to her feet and ducked the swing of a blade, stumbling down the steps. She twisted round and an electric wave burst from her hands, knocking them all off their feet and this gave her chance to turn and leg it.

She sprinted down the great hall, jumping behind the giant ice blocks then with a turn; skidded out the doors and slid down the corridor. She managed to stand straight nevertheless something whacked her in her the back and she was launched across the floor. The ice scratched her arms and cheek as she slid into an ice block.

Groaning, she rolled over and gasped.

A pair of eyes stared down at her. Stuck in the ice.

"Oh my God." She murmured and her heart thrummed in panic. The ice blocks. She sat up and looked round at the hunks of ice. They were all Asgardian's. She rolled out of the way and a spear struck the ice just where her head was.

She scrambled back across the icy floor and her throat jarred when one of the Elves jumped at her and soared down, spear ready.

Her hands were too slow.

WHAM!

The Elf shot off to the side and crashed into an ice block, shattering it, and the Asgardian inside.

Helen blinked then rolled her head back and stared up into the face of a Frost Giant.

"Your Highness."

A large hand reached down, grabbed her arm and pulled her to her feet.

"Protect the Queen." A voice rumbled to her left and another Frost Giant stepped forward, raising his own jagged spear.

"Follow me your Highness." The Giant said and she followed him down the corridor as the other Frost Giant's moved forward to fight the Elves.

"What's been going on?" She asked, jogging to keep up with his long strides, "Where are the Asgardian's? What are you lot doing here?"

He looked at her, "We've been here for many days. Since your disappearance, along with King Loki's leaving we have thrived here."

"Disappearance?" But, she had only just got here.

He nodded.

"What happened?"

"The Dark Elf Malekith per-chanced upon the Casket of Ancient Winters."

"The casket of what-what?"

"Ancient Winters. This is what this is." He waved his hand at the ice and snow.

"Right. So he took over right? And the Asgardian's?"

"They have perished." He looked happy about this and Helen decidedly ignored it.

"Where's Loki?"

"The King assisted Malekith. He showed him where the Casket of Ancient Winter's was."

"What?!" She snapped, "That bastard tried to kill me."

The Frost Giant suddenly straightened, his eyes turning a darker red, "Malekith made an attempt on your life your Majesty?"

Helen looked up at him, "Umm yeah. He gave me this crystal, it exploded and I…." she closed her mouth in thought, what _had_ happened?

"Malekith will pay for his betrayal. King Loki believed you had been killed by our hand."

"What? Oh my God, I need to sort his head out." She growled, "Where is he? Do you know?"

"We suspect he is in Niflheim or Svartalfheim. Close to Malekith."

"Ugh, I am going to kill him when I see him." She muttered with a roll of her eyes and she noticed more Frost Giants walking towards them, weapons at the ready.

"What are you all doing here?"

"Asgard is open. The protective walls are down; we can take what we want to protect ourselves from Loki's forces."

"Loki's for-oh for God's sake!" She growled, "I need to get to him. I can stop this. What's your name?"

"Grintel."

"Okay Grintel, I need you to do three things for me."

* * *

The Bi-Frost was at exactly at the same place Helen had left it except Heimdall wasn't standing guard anymore, he was trapped in his own block of ice. Even the dark sea below was frozen.

She cursed under her breath and looked back at Asgard then shoved her hands under her arms to keep warm. She thought at least Heimdall would be free, he could tell her how to get to Niflheim or Svartalfheim; he may have known where Loki was.

She reached out and wiped the ice to make it clearer and Heimdall's golden eyes stared at her.

"What do I do?"

A plan had formed in her head but already it had been shot down, stabbed and stamped on. It was a stupid plan. She didn't make plans. Other people made plans and she followed, reluctantly or not.

She took a deep breath.

But she had to find Loki and tell him about Malekith. She had to stop him invading Jotunheim and killing everyone and then what? Could her and Loki take on Malekith? He was a strong magic user according to the Frost Giants and had a lot of dark knowledge.

As long as she got Loki out, then they could think about it afterwards.

"Your Highness." Grintel was back with a dozen or so Frost Giants behind him and in between two of them was the Tesseract.

"Excellent. Thank you." She smiled, "How did you get the barrier down?" She asked, walking towards the Tesseract, eyes transfixed. She hadn't felt its power in such a long time.

"We have our own set of skills." A Giant said to her right, following her with only one eye.

Helen clenched her hands, trying desperately not to grab the cube as her heart began to pound. Power. Energy. Strength!

"We will return to Jotunheim. Gather the best warriors and then we will seek out Malekith and Loki and stop this madness."

The Frost Giant's nodded and beat their fists against their chests in union.

Fingers trembling, Helen reached out. Hoping that when she touched the Tesseract it would do what she wanted. If its power could transport her to it, then surely it could transport her to where she wanted to go.

Her gloved hands brushed the edges and like a magnet, she was suddenly sucked onto it. There was a flash and swirl of blue and the Frost Giants and the human were transported off of the Bi-Frost.


	19. Melee

"If your plan goes awry Malekith, you will not fare well in the future." Loki said, his voice echoing in the chasm like hall.

"Nothing I have done has caused doubt. Things have escalated as you instructed they would. Thor will be arriving soon for his Midgardian woman." Malekith replied, staring into the ice block that contained the human Jane. She sat on the floor, shivering madly; lips turning blue and skin blotchy from the furious cold.

Loki stepped out from behind a jagged pillar and looked upon the Elf and his gaze lingered on the woman. Spite filled his heart when he saw her; the woman, the mere mortal that had changed Thor. Made him weak.

"When Thor is defeated, you will have your wish granted. Jotunheim will fall for what they did to you and your human." He made Helen sound like a pet.

Loki's grip on his staff tightened, "Hold your tongue. Helena will not have died in vain." Just saying her name sprung images into the forefront of his mind and it hurt.

Ha hated it.

He had become so weak, so much like Thor but however much he tried, he couldn't hate her. He couldn't be spiteful at her. He just wanted her alive, smiling, frowning, crying, _anything_, as long as he knew she was alive.

It was his fault. He should've known. Should've known that the Frost Giants weren't to be trusted. They had been furious with the knowledge that he was on the throne, they had wanted to get back at him. If and when he saw them, he would destroy and break them all. He would leave no Frost Giant unhurt.

They had taken away his Queen. They had destroyed her. His whole body burnt for revenge, anger and hatred filling every inch of him.

"What will you do when Thor arrives?" Malekith asked, walking towards his black stone throne.

Loki calmed his thoughts and readjusted his hold on his staff, "I will aid you. It's best he know nothing of my presence."

Malekith went to sit but the walls of the hall suddenly shook and small stones and icicles fell from the jagged ceiling.

They glanced at each other and even Jane looked up.

Malekith grinned, "I thought he'd be late."

Light flashed through the gaps of the huge stone doors and a roar echoed against the stone.

Loki frowned. Thor roared but not like that.

Another flash of light and shouts burst from the other side of the door. Then there was a loud clang! And the doors shifted debris and snow showered to the floor.

"GET THE DOOR OPEN!" A deep voice boomed.

Malekith straightened, "What is this?!"

Loki looked on confused, feeling a knot in his stomach. Had Thor asked for the Avenger's help?

There was a crack of light and another clang! The door cracked open an inch.

"OW!" A voice shouted, "THAT BLOODY HURT YOU JACKASS!"

Loki's stomach twisted in a completely different direction and he stepped forward, heart hammering.

"YOUR HIGHNESS!" A deep resounding voice boomed.

"I thought I told you to open the doors?! _THOR!_ Put. Him. Down!"

CRACK!

The doors relented and in stormed 5 larger than life Frost Giants. Elves clambered on top of them but it seemed to have no effect, they were so massive.

"MALEKITH!" Thor's voice boomed and the golden haired God ran into the hall.

Loki seethed, stuck between killing the Frost Giants who so rightly deserved it or hiding from his brother to protect himself.

"Your woman is nearly dead Thor. Have you lost interest?" Malekith grinned and Thor gritted his teeth and gripped Mjolnir even tighter.

"You will pay for what you have done Malekith."

A huge explosion rocked the hall and debris and snow plumed into it, hiding the entrance. Lightning flashed from within and suddenly there was a yelp and a well-covered figure slid out of the debris and slowed to a stop just behind Thor.

Helen stood, swayed, then turned round and dropped her hood.

"Malekith, I am going to kill you after Thor has."

Malekith stared at her.

"Impossible." He murmured.

But he wasn't as shocked as Loki.

Again? Again?! She hadn't died. She was alive. She was very much alive. Cheeks red raw from the cold, brown eyes ablaze and lightning dancing in her hands.

Loki's legs almost gave in and he felt tears brush at his eyes. She was alive.

Then her gaze turned to him and she huffed, a look of annoyance on her face.

"You," She pointed at him, "are in so much trouble."

Loki almost dropped his staff. The Gods were teasing him, playing with his head. She must be a mere illusion.

Thor turned to Helen and placed his hand on her shoulder, "Lady Helena, you should leave. This is going to get dangerous."

"Hey, I helped save the world, kind of. I'm staying."

Thor looked over her face then smiled and clapped her on the shoulder, "You will make a fine warrior. Now Malekith, prepare to face your fate."

Malekith grinned and sat back in his throne, "You think I saved all of this to end with hand to hand combat? You think me a fool?"

The Frost Giants stepped up behind them, creating a wall from the back and the approaching elves watched warily but then there was a disturbance. One of the Giant's rose his spear to Loki.

"No, it's okay." Helen waved him down and walked forward, "Do you realise how much trouble you are in? The Frost Giants are your people and here I am, hearing that you're planning on killing them. I'm gone for a few days and you go mad." She stepped in front of him and he stared down at her, mouth slightly agape.

"Then I hear you're helping Malekith and that's a whole other box of problems. I thought you-"

Loki cut her off by clasping her head in his hands.

His shining green eyes looked over hers, taking her in.

"Shut up." He ordered then he pulled her forward and kissed her.

Helen went to argue but he held her with such desperation and longing, that she couldn't. His limbs shook from trying not to squeeze too tight. She reached up and dug her fingers into his hair and placed her other gloved hand on his jaw, rubbing his cheek with her thumb.

He pulled back but kissed her again, taking a deep shuddering breath.

"You're alive. You are so alive." He whispered relief and happiness flooding his words.

Helen smiled, feeling her insides melt. How could he be so annoying then wondrous in the space of a few seconds?

"Hey," She leaned her nose against his, "you can't get rid of me that easily." She kissed him as his hands moved and his arms clutched her round the waist in a crushing grip.

She was there. In his arms, breathing, smiling and best of all, alive. She had not left him. She had not abandoned him.

"You're still in trouble though." She murmured.

He let out a short laugh then leaned up and kissed her forehead, breathing in her very essence.

Helen knew that the part of her that had believed he was using her for his own purposes was wrong. It was so wrong. She smiled brightly, momentarily forgetting where they were and what they were supposed to be doing. She hugged him back, enjoying the feeling of his body in her arms, he fit so well.

"If you are done with your reunion." Malekith's sharp voice cut through the moment.

Helen's happiness hardened to anger and she pulled back from Loki, glaring at the Elf.

Malekith stood and stared at her, "How are you not dead?"

"I have some tricks up my sleeve. Loki taught me a few." She lied, finding Loki's hand and gripping it tightly.

"Impossible. The Kilnhem crystal destroys everything."

"I guess you just got a dud then."

"Helena?" Loki asked quietly.

She turned to him then pointed sharply at Malekith. "He was the one who blew me up. He gave me this crystal. Loki, Malekith tried to kill me."

Loki's face turned from confusion to pure anger in a matter of milliseconds.

"WHAT?!" Loki rounded on the Elf as power and anger emanated off him in waves, "How dare you!" he spat.

Malekith glared dangerously at Helen then let his gaze slide to Loki.

"She was holding you back. You have a greatness in you, a strength for power."

Loki stepped forward, releasing Helen's hand and stood in front of her, "You dare hurt my Queen! I will have you ripped from where you stand and put through the tortures of Hel!" He snarled.

Malekith stared at Loki, his face unreadable but it soon turned to a smirk.

"Don't be so feeble Loki. She is a mere mortal."

"Hey!" Helen stepped forward, "A mere mortal that survived your bomb and is gonna kick your ass!"

"Stay back Helena." Thor warned.

Malekith laughed and it sent a shiver down her spine.

"Come at me, if you think yourselves foolish enough."

Thor lunged and Helen yelped when Loki grabbed her round the waist and spun her to the side, he grabbed her hand and pulled her up behind a column.

"L-Loki what are you doing?" She hissed at him, struggling in his grip.

He looked down at her, "you must return to Jotunheim. This is no place for a woman."

Helen's face hardened into an angry scowl, "I'm not leaving. Malekith needs to pay for what he did."

"I will make him pay." Loki growled, his green eyes flashing dangerously.

"I'm staying Loki." She tried to pull from his hand but he held her tighter.

"I am not asking you Helena. I am telling you!" He snapped as the throne room shook dangerously and the Elves shrieked and yelled whilst the Frost Giants attacked.

"You can't tell me what to do! Why can't I stay? Is it your honour? Your title? You just want to be the hero-"

"I CAN'T LOSE YOU AGAIN!"

Helen felt her heart snap in two and everything went still. He stared at her with hard eyes but they were shining and inside was a pool of emotions, too complicated to decipher but easy enough to understand.

"Loki." She said quietly, her heart pounded in her chest and she gripped his arms tightly.

He looked away to the battle, his face struggling to come up with the right emotion but he held her so tightly.

Then she turned his head with her hand and smiled at him, "you are possibly the most wonderful man I have ever met but I'm not leaving." She kissed him.

His eyes never left hers and he opened his mouth to reply but suddenly his eyes widened and Helen yelped as she was flung backwards and a huge rock crashed into the space where they had just been. Gasping, Helen scrambled to her feet.

"LOKI!" She shouted desperately but then the lithe God darted out into the main hall and struck an Elf down before jumping onto a rock and blasting another with his magic.

Helen's heart soared and she grinned at him then turned to the matter at hand, trying to squash down the feelings of fuzziness in her stomach. She ran around the edge of the cavernous room, heading towards the throne where Thor and Malekith were at one on one combat.

Mjolnir slammed repeatedly into Malekith's shield and every pound made the cavern shake.

Helen slipped past them to the ice cage that contained Jane and when she stood to the side of it, she looked in and knocked.

Jane looked up but it took her an age to do so.

"Excellent." Helen muttered under her breath. She looked back at the unfolding madness. The Frost Giants were being overrun with Elves but they fought back valiantly and Helen winced when she saw one of them fall. Loki was making his way towards Thor and Malekith, his eyes set on the Dark Elf, malice on his face.

Helen reached out and placed her hands on the ice, feeling over it then electricity sparked down her arms and hit the ice with a bang and hiss.

"o-oh this is going to take a long time." She said to herself and tried to give Jane a reassuring smile.

Helen stepped back and pointed her hands at the block and lightning burst from them. It hit the block and danced across it, digging in. Helen gritted her teeth, letting the power surge from her body, the Tesseract had juiced her up but if she stayed too long on this ice then she'd run out.

Loki broke through the Elves and with the force of his magic and strength, cut a hole through Malekith's shield and ran in. He smacked Malekith around the face and he flew into the steps to the throne.

Thor charged forward and yelled as Mjolnir swung down and missed Malekith by inches. The Elf threw his hand out to hit Thor but Loki jabbed his hand away, giving Thor chance to swing up and punch him in the face.

Malekith let out a yell and suddenly Thor and Loki were blown off their feet and they hit the floor a few hundred yards away, Loki just evading the foot of a Frost Giant when Thor grabbed his cape and dragged him backwards.

The ice block cracked and Helen's eyes grew wide in success. She could feel the energy draining from her too quickly now. Dropping her tingling arms, she turned and kicked the ice then again and again until her foot broke through and she almost fell over.

The room suddenly darkened and Helen glanced up to see a dark smoky mass enveloping Loki and Thor but they didn't look too worried about it.

Wrenching her foot out, Helen reached in and began pulling at the hole, glad that she wore gloves because the ice was sharp. Using most of her strength, the ice cracked and fell away, opening a big enough hole. She stepped in and looked down at Jane, panting slightly.

"It's okay." She held out her hand but noticed that Jane was in no fit state to help herself. Helen stooped down and manoeuvred her until she was able to pull and lift her out of the prison.

The woman was ridiculously weak and Helen was doing the walking for both of them. When they were outside, Helen removed her thick coat and somehow managed to place it around the woman and they walked slowly down the steps, towards the exit.

If Helen could get the Tesseract, she could transport Jane to earth and everything would look a bit more positive.

"NO!" Thor roared.

Helen snapped round and her eyes widened. Malekith appeared in front of them and struck his hand forward but a huge hand rushed down and smacked him away, to slam into the top of the opposing wall.

Helen looked up to the Frost Giant and she gave him a gratified smile, "thank you."

Malekith disappeared from his crack in the ceiling and appeared at his throne, pure anger seething off him.

"I will not be cheated because of a melee battle." Something materialised in his hand and reaching down, he pulled off the lid.

Helen's stomach twisted. Malekith had just done something very bad.

"That is madness Malekith! You cannot control that." Loki shouted.

"I do not mean to control it." Malekith grinned and with a hush of cold wind, he disappeared.

A silence fell over the chamber but then there came a scuttling and they looked round to see the Elves scrambling to escape. The Frost Giants watched them and then turned to her, waiting instruction.

She looked over them and jumped when Thor suddenly ran towards her and took Jane from Helen's arms and held her tightly, kneeling down and stroking her face, whispering something.

She stepped back and looked to Loki who was breathing quickly, his red eyes darting everywhere as he had somehow changed to his Ice Giant form. She walked over to him, waving at the Giants to stand down and help their injured or dead.

"Loki." She said slowly.

He didn't acknowledge her.

She watched him worriedly then reached out and took his hand making him start and look at her, "what's the matter?"

"Malekith has summoned a very dark creature. It will be emerging…soon." He looked around then down at her, "even you and your stubbornness cannot stand to fight this creature."

"If I wasn't stubborn nothing would get done." She smiled but it faltered at his serious look, "we can escape."

In the distance, down the hallway came a huge BOOM! That shook the walls and Loki squeezed Helen's hand.

"Too late."


	20. Algrim the Strong

"Loki!" Thor suddenly shouted desperately.

They turned to him.

Thor stared at him desperately, clutching Jane in his arms who was very still.

"Loki, please." He begged.

Loki stared at him and an old anger and defiance rose in him but then Helen's warm breath brushed his cheek and she kissed him. Even when he was in his Jotun form.

"Go on." She murmured and gave him a slight push in the back.

He scowled at her but walked quickly to Thor's side.

"Brother, I think…Jane is cold. Too cold. Can you warm her? Help her please." Thor begged.

He looked so pitiful clutching the human, eyes watering, begging for help. He would have never been like this, not before meeting this woman. He would have charged at the enemy coming to greet them, he would have let others deal with it.

Loki stared at him, his thoughts fast as he tried to think of a deal, a bargaining chip.

"Please brother."

Then he glanced up at Helena who was watching with arms crossed and an eyebrow raised. He sighed then knelt down.

"She is only physically weakened. The cold has seeped too far into her body." He spoke, placing his hands on the woman's shoulders as another boom shook the hall.

Helen stepped forward and looked to the Frost Giants.

"Thank you for protecting your King and his brother."

"He is not our King. We protect them because you, our Queen, asked us to."

Helen smiled, feeling a little excited that she was held in such high regard, "I don't know what we're facing next but Loki said it's dangerous. If you don't wish to stay then you are more than welcome to leave."

The Giants looked at each other then back at her.

"We will not leave. We will protect our Queen until death."

Sounds like we're married, Helen thought but kept that to herself and bowed her head to them, "thank you so much. Then," she got to business, "we must seal the doors. Guard them. I don't know what's coming but it must be stopped."

They nodded and headed for the doors as down the passageway, something metallic glinted. They closed the doors and began setting huge rocks against it, piling them.

The colour slowly returned to Jane's skin and she took a deep intake of breath. Her fingers twitched and Thor gripped them tightly as Loki's warming magic flowed into her. She blinked and sluggishly opened her eyes, "what…what's going on? My head hurts." She grumbled, "Did we go out last night?"

Thor chuckled and brushed her hair back, "you are safe Jane." He beamed.

Loki pulled back when the two of them started getting too romantic. He stood and looked to the doors, knowing that that wouldn't hold the beast back. He walked to Helen who smiled at him and he returned it as his skin faded back to its Aesir self.

"Alright handsome, I bet you were pretty sad that I was gone." She smirked, taking his arms and pulling him into a swift kiss.

"It was a nuisance." He shrugged but his arms slipped around her waist anyway, "however I do recall saying that you were never allowed to leave me."

She leaned into his chest and held him, "yeah but you wouldn't even let me go to the bathroom. I just had to break that rule."

He chuckled and kissed the top of her head.

Boom!

Huge rocks fell from the ceiling and crashed into the floor, making crater's in the stone.

Thor stood, holding Jane close to him and Helen and Loki pulled apart to look at the ceiling and at the doors.

Boom!

Loki frowned. The doors weren't moving. In fact they seemed perfectly stable. He looked around. Why was the banging so close then?

CRACK!

The wall to the right exploded.

They all shielded themselves from the debris and with a sweep of his hand; Loki cleared the dust to reveal the new enemy. Tall, menacing and built of gold and red armour. Algrim the Strong looked over them all, strength and power emanating off him on waves.

He took a step forward.

"Protect the Queen!" A Frost Giant roared and with thunderous footsteps, they charged at him, weapons and arms raised.

It was only a matter of moments but soon enough the Frost Giants all lay dead, blue blood spilling from their bodies. Helen stared at them, mouth agape, heart racing.

That was impossible.

He had struck them down so easily.

Her shock and guilt turned to instant anger and she glared at him, "BASTARD!" she jerked into a run but something grabbed the back of her coat and wrenched her back.

"No Lady Helen." Thor said, "I will deal with this. Protect Jane."

Helen glared at him with gritted teeth but relented. Thor stepped forward.

"I have no quarrel with you Algrim the Strong. There is no need to fight."

Algrim stared at Thor then without so much as a twitch, launched forward and struck Thor, slamming him into the throne.

Then his huge hand raised and shot down to crush Helen but something struck her in the side and she was thrown across the floor, to slam into the body of a Frost Giant as Loki blasted Algrim with a bright light.

Helen stumbled to her feet as Thor burst from the broken throne and hit Algrim with Mjolnir sending a painful _dong_! across the hall. Algrim stumbled back, kicking up the bodies of the Giants and out from them bounced the Tesseract.

Helen stared at it and suddenly the floor cracked. They all jerked and quickly steadied themselves. Heat gushed through the cracks and gaps in the floor and Helen and Jane coughed as a putrid burning smell filled their senses. Another crack and Malekith appeared by his broken throne, a wide grin on his face.

"This will make life much easier."

Crunch!

Parts of the floor dropped a foot and small islands of floor crumbled away completely, revealing that far below was a rolling, red hot pit of lava.

Their eyes went wide but Algrim didn't seem to care because there was a metallic roar and he ran at Thor, stomping across the ground.

"Algrim, cease and desist!" Loki yelled but he took no heed.

Helen knew, she desperately knew how dire the situation was but her eyes were transfixed on the Tesseract. Its glowing, swirling mass hypnotising.

Loki jumped on Algrim's back and pierced the armour with his staff but there was a flash of magic and with a cry, he was thrown off to slam into the wall.

Thor staggered backwards from a blow from Algrim then jerked to the side, caught Jane around the waist and rushed her to the side, setting her down.

Algrim raised his gauntlet and slammed it down on the floor making it crack again and more parts of the floor fell.

There was a deep rumbling roar and Loki jerked his staff back from Algrim's leg and stepped back but he couldn't step back anymore. The floor had fallen away and he teetered on the edge.

Helen gasped and lightning exploded from her hands and struck the armour.

There was a deafening screech, the lightning flashed oddly and with a bang, it ricocheted back into Helen, blowing her off her feet to hit the floor and skid to the edge. She groaned and stared down at the burning lava. Then a hand grabbed her arm and pulled her up. Jane stared down at her, wide eyed, scared out of her wits. There was a loud crunch and they turned to see Thor smash Algrim's arm. Algrim grabbed Thor and threw him aside but he skidded to a stop, raised Mjolnir and Helen's heart stopped.

"THOR! NO!" She screamed.

With all of Thor's strength, Mjolnir rose high then slammed down, straight onto the Tesseract.

It cracked.

It was like an explosion had gone off.

A tsunami of energy detonated across the hall and the remaining floor crumbled to nothing.

Loki threw his arms up and caught the edge of the floor but his hand slipped and he dangled by one hand, gasping.

Algrim and Thor, tangled in each other fell, Thor's hammer raised.

Jane screamed and her and Helen dropped.

Loki's eyes flew wide and his heart stopped in his chest.

Then Helen's body convulsed. The Tesseract flashed blindingly and disappeared, and with a strike of electricity, Helen and Jane vanished in a rush of blue energy.


	21. New Mexico

New Mexico's desert had been relatively quiet for the past few years, not having seen any activity since the visit of the Asgardian's, but in the early hours of the morning, something was happening.

Lightening streaked across the heavens even though no clouds formed and high in the sky the stars began to change. The skies of Midgard and Svartalfheim clashed together and with a rush of blue energy, the Tesseract hit the desert floor and bounced, rolling to a stop.

Then there was another flash of light and Helen and Jane materialised on the floor. Helen stumbled aside, gasping heavily and clutching her chest. She cried out at the burning, heavy pain digging into her body.

She fell to her knees and slumped over, crying out as pain jerked through body, making her spasm.

"Helen!" Jane stumbled forward and reached for her.

"Don't touch me!" Helen snarled.

Except it wasn't her voice. It was deep and universal.

Jane stared at burning white eyes, dark blue veins stretched up her face from her neck, reaching for her head and eyes.

"Bring me the Tesseract." She hissed, hands cracking into odd shapes, clawing at the ground and her chest.

Jane stared at her, mouth agape.

"NOW!" Her voice boomed across the desert, filling every nook and cranny with trembling power.

Jane stuttered then turned and ran to the Tesseract, her heart racing wildly in her chest. She stood over the cube, panicking, how would she pick it up? The cracks were extensive and wisps of blue energy were seeping out of it.

Jane scrabbled at her coat and she dropped it over the cube then gingerly picked it up and carried it to Helen's curled up figure. She dropped the cube and Helen's hands instantly snatched out and grabbed it, drawing it back into her like some tarantula.

The blue veins bulged and she clenched up, starting to glow.

Jane stumbled back and fell onto her bum, watching with wide eyes.

What felt like hours later, Helen slumped, slowly, she tipped onto her back, gasping for air.

The Tesseract was calmed, the cracks gone. The veins on Helen's body faded back into her skin and tears streamed from her eyes. Jane rushed over and knelt beside her.

"Helen, Helen?" She asked desperately.

Helen grabbed Jane's shirt and dragged her down to her level, staring up at her with bright blue eyes that slowly began to fade into tired browns.

"Don't. Tell. Anyone." She rasped, staring up at her, "please."

Jane nodded; clutching Helen's arms as far off they heard the distinct noise of a plane engine.

"Yes, of course."

Helen sighed and slipped backwards into unconsciousness.


	22. Strawberries

The medical room was small and white, inside on the single bed lay Helen, wired up to every possible machine, which all made some type of noise. Helen breathed through a mask and beside her, she could feel someone moving. Slowly, her eyes cracked open and through the blurriness, she could see someone dressed in a black suit. Her fingers twitched and some machine gave a loud beep making the person turn round. Helen frowned in her foggy state of mind.

Coulson?

But then a pain erupted in her head and she fell back into unconsciousness. Her dreams filled with the smallest atom and the biggest universe.

When Helen next woke, it was to the sound of bickering.

"You shouldn't use that in here. It's disrespectful."

"She's not dead."

"You could be interfering with her…power."

Tony scoffed, "my technology doesn't mess with her power."

"How can you be sure?" Steve asked sceptically.

"I've run every test possible on her." Tony said and she could almost hear the roll of his eyes.

"She isn't a guinea-pig."

"She consented to everything, even if sometimes I didn't tell her about it."

"Stark!" Steve stood from his chair and it scratched across the floor.

"Oh stop it you two." Helen scolded, wincing at how quiet and rough her voice was, "you're like an old married couple."

"Sparky." Tony exclaimed happily.

She took a deep breath and opened her eyes to look up at Tony and Steve, stood opposites side of her bed.

"Hi guys." She smiled then reached up and felt at the mask over her mouth

"How you feeling?" Steve asked, placing his hand on her shoulder and helping her move the mask.

"Aching and stiff. Where am I?"

"S.H.I.E.L.D medical bay. You've been here a while, worrying the heck out of us lot." Tony said, "I brought you some strawberries but err…"

"He ate them all." Steve gave Tony a hard look.

"What, I was hungry and you weren't waking anytime soon." He feigned nonchalance.

"It's good to see you both." She smiled as memories flooded into her mind that made her hesitate and look to her hands to find them un-gloved and more veined than before.

"Oh here," Steve reached into his pocket and withdrew a pair of brown leather gloves, "I know you don't like your hands."

"Thank you." She smiled at him a tired smile, then slowly moved until she was sat up against the pillows and this exhausted her. She reached out to the gloves and Steve had to help her put them on in case she pulled out the tubes.

"So wanna tell us where you've been for the past two months?" Tony asked, pushing her legs aside and sitting down.

"I was err…" she took a deep breath staring at her now covered hands, she couldn't exactly tell them she had been cavorting with Loki, "was on Asgard, with Thor."

"ahh beefcake. I thought so." Tony grinned, "I got a match to the same electrical print as when Thor and Lo…" Tony fell silent at the look Steve gave him then patted her shoulder, "it's good to have you back."

"It's good to be back." She lied with a smile.


	23. Home is where the Heart is

The world turned and time changed but Helen didn't feel like she was moving with it all. Trapped in her want, in her need to be back among the stars was too much, to think of earth as exciting. She had been the Queen of a race of giants, she had seen a whole new sky, had visited new worlds and now she was back. To sit quietly as Doctors, Nurses and Agents ran every test and asked every question.

She never thought she'd be in the same situation again, the world crashing around her and inside just numbness. It had happened too often in her life to be good.

Tony was decent to her, more than decent. He bought her an apartment with everything she could ever want and had her belongings from her old S.H.I.E.L.D apartment moved into it which wasn't much anyway. It stood on the 20th floor, overlooking Central Park and she would have liked to say it was modest but it was far from it. A state of the art kitchen with island, king sized bed with cotton sheets, a huge bathroom with a claw footed bathtub and a living room that looked out over the park. But however much she stayed there, it wasn't home.

The icy fortress on Jotunheim was more homely.

However New York was pretty icy too. She had missed Christmas and today was New Year's Eve and everyone was celebrating. Helen stood on the balcony of her apartment, letting the biting wind chill her arms as she clutched the stone, staring down at the road.

Just one night, one night to herself, to have fun and forget everything. She lifted the vodka bottle to her lips and took a long swig then pulled a disgusted face.

"Okay Helen," she said to herself as the doorbell chimed and a voice called through, "just enjoy yourself. Don't drag anyone down with your bloody depression. It's no one else's burden." She smirked to herself at her language, Loki had been influencing her way of speaking. She turned and grabbed her coat but not before taking another swig of vodka.


	24. Drink and Talk

The New Year's Eve party was in full swing and Tony was as drunk as a skunk. Helen watched as he flaunted and flirted to everyone, a disapproving Pepper watching from the side-lines and she couldn't help but giggle to herself. Everything was fuzzy and blurry and great. Being drunk was great!

She danced with best friends who she'd never met before; talked about relationships with people who cheated and drank a mixture of tasty drinks.

The music was blaring and she danced with a man named Kyle or was it Damian, she couldn't remember and she didn't much care either. He was a laugh.

The brown haired man motioned to get a drink and she nodded without thinking and he took her hand and pulled her through the throng of people to the bar which was nearly empty as it was so late in the night or so early in the morning. She sat on a seat and Kyle or Damian gripped her shoulder.

"I'll be back in a minute." He shouted over the noise.

She nodded and watched him go but turned back to the bar and grinned for no apparent reason.

"SPARKY!" Tony slumped over her in a tight hug and he began kissing her face, "it is SO good having you back. Who am I supposed to party with? Capsicle? I think not." He laughed and wobbled away with his entourage of followers.

She smiled brightly and for a moment, a bit of sense came back to her head and she rubbed the bridge between her eyes. Someone stood next to her and leaned across the bar to get immediate service.

"Here sweetie." A velvety voice spoke and a cool glass was pressed into her hand, "I think you need this."

Helen looked down to see clear water and then she looked up to take in a very attractive woman.

Intense green eyes stared at her and a small smile graced sharp features. Long black hair fell over her shoulders in waves, leading to an emerald green dress that clung to large breasts and womanly curves.

Helen felt suddenly very ugly and looked away.

"Thank you." She glugged down the water but almost choked when a slim finger brushed across her jawline.

"You should take that more slowly." The woman's eyes sparkled.

"Y-yeah." She stammered, a hot flush rising to her cheeks.

Then a hand placed on her shoulder, "ah, looks like you've already got a drink and a new friend." Kyle beamed, placing a kiss on her cheek then holding his hand out to the new woman.

She smiled brightly, "Lorelai."

"Lovely." His eyes flashed over her body for a quick moment and his hand left Helen's shoulder so he could lean across the bar and talk to her.

Helen just kept on smiling but inside, she suddenly felt bad. She could never be as beautiful and attractive as that woman. She turned away and looked at the dancing people. If there were people like that woman in the world then why would Loki be interested in her?

Shaking her head, she turned to the pair and Lorelai's eyes immediately alighted to hers.

"My mates are over there. Let's sit with them." Kyle grinned then taking both their hands, he pulled them over to the sofas where four men and two ladies sat. They sat down and immediately a tray of shots were presented to them.

Helen took one eagerly and downed it before anyone else, and had she been looking, she would've seen Lorelai twitch her hand. The shot glass slipped in Kyle's hand and spilled over him. He cursed and his friends laughed, he excused himself and Helen looked up as Lorelai quickly replaced his seat.

"Are you having a good time?" Helen asked, unable to stop smiling.

"It has improved." Her lips were as red as blood and a part of Helen hated her for being so…so perfect.

"I saw you dancing." She said and Helen giggled.

"If you can call that dancing. I call it more throwing myself about until something happens."

The woman smiled, placing her arm behind Helen's back and they lapsed into a comfortable conversation, making small talk, at least until Kyle came back.

"Helen!" He called and he grabbed her hand, pulling her up, "get us a beer would you? Thanks babe." He kissed her on the cheek and patted her bum, to sit in her seat. Not noticing the deadly look on Lorelai's face or the 'hmph' from Helen. She glanced at him then stalked off.

Lorelai turned her sharp glare to Kyle but it was gone the moment he looked at her to be replaced by a smile.

"So, what do you do?"

"I weave foolish men into pits of despair." She smiled benignly. Kyle raised an eyebrow then laughed and patted the woman's bare knee and it made her skin crawl.

"What is your association with Helena?" She asked, waving her finger in circles at the drink in his hand.

"Oh, just met her tonight. She's a nice girl. Really friendly" He nodded to himself.

Lorelai flicked her hair over her shoulder and glanced into the dancing bodies to see Helen among them, grinning from ear to ear.

"What were your intentions?"

"Intentions?" Kyle laughed at the use of language, "intentions?" he grinned, "nothing perverse, don't you worry. She's not my type."

"Why would you say that?" She asked, leaning her head onto her hand, full attention on Kyle.

"Well a bit bland I guess. Not a model and I think a bit pudgy. No one likes big girls anymore." Kyle was saying all this and he didn't really know why but Lorelai seemed interested enough so he kept on, "she's a bit of a plain Jane. She didn't put much effort into her wardrobe either. Long gloves don't suit her. If you ask me, she's a bit out of date"

"Really?" She raised a sharp eyebrow then reached down into her drink and withdrew the lemon, she moved it between two sharp fingers and in a sharp blur, it was suddenly embedded in his eye.

He cried out and jerked backwards, toppling off the seat and Lorelai was already gone, ignoring the stares of lecherous men and jealous women. She pushed into the crowd of dancing men and women and found Helen.

She beamed up at her then closed her eyes and continued dancing but a slender arm slid around her waist, fingers dug into her hair and her head was pulled up and her lips were met in a strong, fiery kiss.

Helen's eyes flew wide as the woman's fingers dug into her side and pulled her against her body, almost desperately clinging to her. Out of shock, Helen found herself kissing back as a physical, instinctual reaction and a little voice in her head told her that it was good. Really good.

Lorelai pulled back when Helen's reactions slowed and she looked down at her, cupping her chin, "you are truly the most beautiful being I have ever met."

The green eyes swam, hypnotising and Helen struggled to pull herself away from them.

"I-I," she stuttered, "I have a boyfriend."

Lorelai hesitated and looked over her face then pulled back, "forgive me." her words turned harsh.

"No! Don't…don't say sorry." She rushed and gripped at the woman's shoulders but flushed and pulled back, "I…didn't think, I'm sorry." She flushed bright red then turned and fled through the crowd, heading for the balcony.

It was freezing outside but Helen didn't care. She rushed to a hidden area and sat down, heart pounding. What had just happened? That woman, that gorgeous woman had willingly kissed her. Her!

She found a lounge seat and collapsed on it, hidden by thin red drapes. On the table beside her was a bottle of wine and she grabbed it and took a swig. She had said she had a boyfriend, didn't she? She did, didn't she? Loki was her boyfriend but what…what if she never saw him again? Her heart cracked in her chest and an audible cry burst from her lips.

Oh god, what if she never saw him again?! Stuck on earth. Alone.

Lorelai found Helen. Curled up on a chaise lounge, a nearly empty bottle of wine in hand, crying into her knees, hiccoughing every now and then.

Lorelai walked to her and sat on the edge, reaching out and touching her foot.

"Helena?" She started softly, "Helena dear, why are you crying?"

Helen sniffed and shook her head, not caring that she was exposing so much leg. Lorelai removed the large fur piece from around her shoulders and placed it over them then reached into her cleavage and pulled out a tissue and pressed it into her hand.

"Is it because I kissed you so rudely?"

"No!" She hiccoughed and looked up at her briefly with red swollen eyes then hid them behind the tissue, "Of course not. I'm sorry…I'm sorry I ran away. I'm just…just being so stupid at the moment." She hissed, berating herself.

Lorelai reached out and slid her fingers around her calf, rubbing the skin gently, "then why do you cry so much beautiful?"

She hiccoughed, sniffed then blew her nose loudly, "I…I don't know if I have a boyfriend or not."

Lorelai blinked then reached out and removed the wine bottle to place it back on the table, "and why is that?" She moved closer as a cold wind whipped through the drapes, making them flap and shake.

"I don't think I'm ever going to see him again, he's…he's not from here." Helen glanced up at her and another tissue appeared which she took gratefully, "and if we do meet up then I could be ancient. I'll be an old woman! Probably dead."

"He must be some man."

She nodded, "He's a jackass too." She gave a small smile and Lorelai laughed.

"Aren't they all?" She grinned.

Helen looked at her, "Yeah." She said slowly.

"If he cares for you, I am sure you will see him again."

"Yeah, I thought that but then," she sighed deeply, "it's more than distance. I've been thinking, since he…since I left, am I good enough for him?"

"What?" Lorelai burst and her grip on Helen's leg tightened making her wince.

"He's just so…so…deserves better. He's a King."

"And I am sure you are his Queen."

"But I might not ever see him again. I'll probably be an old woman by the time he sees me again. I don't want to be trapped waiting for him, I don't want to lose him either. I'm just a mortal. He deserves someone who's going to stay by his side." It was all spilling out now and Helen couldn't stop herself. Lorelai stared at her and her grip loosened on her leg.

"Maybe it's better if I never see him again." It hurt to say those words and fresh tears filled her eyes and began to spill, "but I miss him!" She wailed like a child and soon found herself buried in Lorelai's chest, being gently rocked.

"Shh, shh." She hushed gently, stroking her hair.

Helen sobbed loudly and clutched the woman tightly. She missed Loki so much but what if she never did see him again? She'd be waiting for the rest of her life, chances going past her. Then what if he did return but in fifty years when she was an old woman and he looked exactly the same. It would break her heart and would he even care? He could have anyone he wanted.

"He cares for you." Lorelai whispered, "Loki care's for you so much. He won't abandon you."

"How do you know that?" She sniffed, her throat hurt from crying and so did her head.

"I have a sixth sense for these things." She shrugged with a smile then kissed her head, "Come on. I think you've drunk enough."

Helen nodded and let Lorelai slide her fingers through hers and pull her to her feet, but before they moved anywhere, the woman pulled out another tissue and wiped her face free of make-up smudges, tears and snot.

"As beautiful as ever." She smiled.

Helen smiled but asked, "Where do you keep getting those from?" She looked to her breasts and Lorelai laughed and pulled Helen into a one armed hug and away from the seat.

The party had calmed down completely, no music played and they walked through with ease, Helen clutching Lorelai's hand as though her life depended on it.

A car waited for them outside and they stepped into the back, Helen's ears buzzing from the noise but she didn't care. She leant against the door and looked out at the brightly lit streets as they drove, back to her apartment, fingers still tightly entwined with Lorelai's.

Lorelai watched her silently, looking over the puffy red eyes and red nose, down to the black and purple dress that covered the majority of her body, matched with shoulder length black gloves. No, Helen wasn't a skinny model, she wasn't the ideal woman but she held herself so much better in a person's eyes. It wasn't her looks that shone through, it was her personality.

She reached over and brushed her hair down, making Helen look round and smile.

The car journey was shorter than Helen realised and they soon stopped outside of her apartment.

"Would you like some tea?" Helen asked, stepping out and looking back at the woman.

"No, it's late and you need rest." She stepped out of the car anyway and towered over Helen, "but I want you to have this."

Helen opened her mouth to ask what but Lorelai moved to her lips and kissed her again.

Except this time Helen didn't refuse it, she sunk into the coolness and was reminded strongly of Loki, so much so that her heart ached and soared at the same time.

Lorelai slowly pulled back, brushing her lips with hers.

"Good night beautiful."

"Night." Helen said weakly, then stepped back and watched her duck into the car and drive away.

Blinking, Helen turned away and headed to the foyer, reaching up to touch her lips.

That was weird.


	25. Return to Midgard

A huge ice storm ravaged the city of New York along with the rest of the west coast. The streets were empty; filled with snow and ice instead, and had it not been for the drug raid the police were committing on a house, no one would have noticed the strike and explosion of electricity in the alleyway next to the an apartment building. The policemen and women glanced at each other, forgetting briefly about the SWAT team and the shouts and gunfire from within the building. With a jerk of a hand from the leader, two men split off from the group and went to the alley, guns at the ready.

A crash came from behind some bins and one of them rolled out to the policemen's feet, sparking with electricity. A groan echoed and a tall dark figure stumbled forward, grasping onto the wall.

Still wearing his Asgardian armour, Loki looked terrible. His clothes were ripped, dirty and frayed, blood dripped down his temple and his right eye was swollen.

"STAND DOWN!" The closest policeman shouted, jerking his gun at him.

Loki glanced up with his one good eye and his pained face turned into a deadly snarl and he lunged forward. He grabbed the policeman round the throat and threw him backwards, straight into a car, smashing the windows. Bullets ricocheted off him and he turned to grab the gun off the other policeman and his fist swung forward and crushed the man's nose, sending him flying back. He threw the gun over his shoulder, stooped down and picked up the dustbin lid and with accurate precision, threw it and knocked down two policemen at once.

He stepped forward but pain raced up his leg and he stumbled, a gasp clutching his chest. He grabbed the nearest car and leant against it, sliding down as the spray of bullets slowed. Loki held his side, wincing with every breath.

The human world. Why did he have to end up on Midgard!? He was a criminal here and with the extent of his injuries, S.H.I.E.L.D would get him in no time.

"Surrender now!" A voice shouted and he rolled his eyes then grabbed a shard of glass off the floor and with a twist of his body, threw it at the shouting human. It whistled past him and struck the car instead and gunfire instantly burst around him.

He cursed; he was losing his aim along with most of his bodily functions. His head swam and then his ears picked up a distinctive noise.

The rumble and roar of some mechanical beast. He looked round and saw, in a flurry of snow, a motorbike speeding towards him, headlight blazing and astride a rider, dressed all in leather.

Loki snatched up another glass shard and flung it and this time, it did hit one of the mortals. He clambered to his feet and ran towards the motorbike, his heart racing. Bullets pinged off his back and his eyes flashed in the light from a bolt of blue electricity. It coursed across the floor and slammed into the car.

It exploded.

The blast hit Loki in the back and he was thrown forward onto the road, making him tremble in pain and then the smell of burning rubber reached his nose. He looked up to see the motorbike a few feet from him and the rider had their hand held out, the helmet directed towards him, waiting.

He didn't need to think twice, he grabbed the hand and pulled himself onto the back of the bike, ignoring the blazing car behind and with a lurch, the bike roared into life and they thundered down the street.

Loki clutched the figure around the waist, icy wind searing across his face, revealing his true form but he didn't care. His grip around the figure tightened and he looked back to see a police car following but it was too far back to catch them now. They flew down the empty streets of New York, pummelled by the ice filled wind and they took corners sharper than was possible on the icy roads. They cut through two alleyways and as they whistled past the entrance to Central Park, Loki glimpsed the back of his driver's neck and his stomach turned.

His magic hadn't been working.

They turned into a parking lot and dipped downwards. They went circles around the building until they reached a dark corner and the figure slowed then turned the engine off and climbed off to look back at him.

"How did you know I'd be there?" He asked his voice croaky from lack of water.

Helena lifted her visor and bright brown eyes crinkled at him with a smile, "I have no idea." Well she did, but she wasn't going to tell him that she had 'seen' his arrival a few hours before he had come, "I've been driving round ages though. I'm bloody freezing. Come on." She slid her arm around his back and helped him off the bike, "what happened to you?"

"I err…I ran into a little trouble." He grunted as he moved oddly and his hand went to his side.

Helen looked up at him, her brow furrowed, "will you be okay? Do you need a Doctor?" They approached the lift.

He grimaced a smile at her, "I do not need your primitive and rather barbaric practices."

"You sure?" She asked, feeling her concern grow as he leant more heavily on her and waited for the lift to take them to her apartment.

Loki reached out and grasped the wall, taking in a sharp breath.

"Loki?" She pushed gently.

He looked down at her, "I'm fine my Queen. I just need rest."

Helen found his hand over her shoulder and gripped it tightly. The lift doors pinged opened and they entered in but they walked straight through to the other side which entered them into a warm hallway.

Loki looked back, watching the lift closed and he was tugged along but it was getting blurry now. His legs felt like lead and something heavy was sitting on his chest. His vision swam and he clutched Helena, leaning heavily on her. The door opened and he was led through and the moment he saw a bed, he stumbled forward and collapsed on it, wheezing and feeling treacherously sick.

Hands grasped at his legs and waist and he was pulled about, his head flopping onto the pillow, and Helena leaned over him, her face etched with worry.

"I'm okay. I promise." He reached up and brushed her cheek but even that took a monumental effort.

She grasped his hand and found that he had slipped into a sleep, completely exhausted.

Helen pulled Loki's clothes off, struggling to find how the hell to take it all off anyway, no wonder he used magic to dress himself, but finally she did it and the sight she was left with, wasn't reassuring.

His body was battered with bruises and cuts, he looked like he had been in the wars and was skinnier than ever. Helen ran a hand over his ribs, twitching at the feel of them sticking out like dull blades but shaking herself, she pulled the sheets out from under him and wrapped him up.

It was time to look at her own visage.

She shed her helmet and walked into the bathroom where her face looked back at her, covered in bright blue veins, stretching from her chest, up her neck and towards her face. Striking white eyes stared and had Helen not known it was real, she would've thought she was staring into a dream or nightmare. Feeling her stomach turn in disgust, she reached up and slid the zip down, revealing more bulging veins on her chest, converging on the square scar and when the leather jacket fell open, she winced.

Her whole body was infected with the veins, making her look grotesque and she shuddered, trying to shake it off.

"Not now." She muttered and scratched her head but her reflection didn't do the same, just stared back, eyes glowing.


	26. Accepted

Loki's stomach growled and his eyes twitched as the smell of cooking food flooded his nose and his mouth watered, however the bed he was in was so warm and comfy that he didn't think he could get out. He lay still, listening to the crackling of food on oil. There was humming too and some music, very quiet music so he couldn't discern what it was. Footsteps too, gentle taps and as he rolled over, clutching at the covers he could smell a very distinct scent on the pillow.

His lips twitched into a smile.

Helen cracked an egg into the frying pan and followed it with another one. She was so wrapped up in her own thoughts that she didn't notice the God walk into the kitchen, wearing only a pair of black shorts. He walked around the island and placed his hands on her hips.

She jumped and twisted round and her look of shock turned to relief and happiness. "Loki." She beamed and clutched his arms.

He smiled and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her as close as possible, burying his nose into her hair and Helen more than willingly returned his hug, nuzzling into his chest. She hummed happily; glad to see him up and about and looking healthier than before. He kissed the side of her head then pulled back to kiss her properly on the lips.

"How are you feeling?" She asked when he pulled back and looked over her shoulder at the food.

"Hungry."

"Well it's nearly done. You have good timing, though I expect the homeless man outside won't be happy you've woken up." She babbled, pointing to a stool at the island.

He took it and watched as she pulled out a plate and knife and fork.

"I made you breakfast everyday but seeing as you didn't wake up, I gave it to that man. He was very happy; he said it warmed his bones though I expect anything is good in this weather." She piled two sausages, two eggs, three slices of bacon, a large tomato and beans onto the plate, "you don't have to eat all of it but I thought you might be hungry after sleeping so much." She placed the plate in front of him along with the cutlery and he instantly dug in, forgetting all manners.

Helen watched his gusto in amusement then kissed the top of his head, "I'll run you a bath and I bought you some clothes too." She walked out and by the time, she had returned, Loki had finished.

"Tea?" She asked, going to the kettle.

He nodded and picked up the carton of orange juice and downed all of it by the time she placed a cup beside him.

"You'll be sick if you keep on like that." She smiled, reaching out and stroking back his long hair.

He glanced at her, secretly pleased of her affection. He reached out and held her leg, rubbing up and down then he pulled her closer and buried himself into her chest.

"Loki." She chuckled. Helen put the teacup down and wrapped her arms around his head, stroking and running her fingers through his hair. He clutched her tightly, nestling himself into her warmer than warm and softer than soft body. She could never be wrong.

Helen kissed the top of his head and leant her cheek against it, glad to have him back in her arms.

"Your hair's longer." She commented, sliding her fingers down it, where it nearly reached the middle of his shoulder blades.

"I have been busy." His voice was muffled into her chest as he started feeling the heaviness of sleep again.

"Go and have a bath." She rubbed his back and pulled away rather reluctantly and Loki's arms fell after her.

He watched silently as she moved about the kitchen tidying up then he slowly stood and found the bathroom. Steam was coming off the water and the mirrors were already steamed up but he was glad of that. He didn't want to see his reflection.

He removed his shorts and climbed in, instantly feeling the aches of his trials ease. He led back with a deep breath and even after everything that had happened; he still found a smile brushing his lips. He had Helena back and she didn't deny him anything.


	27. Unable to Stay Away

Helen lay awake, staring up at the ceiling, drenched in sweat. Her dream was fading but the fear and shock that had come with it was hard to ignore. She turned her head to look at the time, six in the morning and then she turned her head the other way to look at Loki. He slept deeply, as he did every day for the past week, so tired from whatever he had been doing. It was probably all the healing he had to do.

The swelling of his eye was gone and even the bruises were quickly fading. She reached out and brushed her fingers over his chest, she was so happy he was back, even though he didn't talk and only slept but it was good to have him back. Smiling, she slipped out of bed and went to the bathroom where she washed her face with some water, but when she looked up, pure white eyes stared back making her wince in pain.

"Not now." She hissed.

She opened the mirror cabinet and pulled out a hand sized device that Tony had made specially for her, it twisted in her hand and electricity flowed into the device.

Loki opened his eyes when he heard movement from around him; he yawned and rubbed his eyes. "Why are you not in bed with me?" He asked.

"Things to do." Helen said, stooping down next to him but when she straightened, she yelped and was pulled onto the bed where Loki leant over the top of her.

"I insist you stay in bed with me."

"Not too tired then?" She smirked, feeling his fingers brush up her leg.

"I will never be too tired for you." He kissed her.

"I have things to do." She murmured as he started his way down her neck and she could already feel her resolve melting away.

"I will not be denied my Queen." His other hand slid up her pyjama top.

She took a deep breath then placed her hands on his shoulders and pushed him back. He looked over her face, disappointment creasing his.

"I'll be back by lunch and you should conserve your energy."

Loki moved aside and she stood up brushing out her hair.

"Where are you going?"

"Tony's. I have had a life since you've been away." She smiled at him.

"You've been away from me." He took her hand and kissed the top, "have a pleasant day."

Helen felt her heart flutter and she beamed brightly then leaned down and kissed him.

* * *

The clock was ticking away and Helen watched it from the corner of her eye, teeth gritted. She drummed her fingers on the table looking round at her friends and S.H.I.E.L.D agents but then she was back on the clock. She had been in Tony's laboratory for the past five hours now as the scientists, agents and general clever people tried to figure out what was going on.

Apparently the stars were going out.

Helen didn't quite know what that meant for them or the world but they felt she should be included anyway.

She'd rather not. Loki was stuck in her flat with no company and no idea how to use anything. He'd probably mistake the toaster as a weapon.

And she couldn't exactly call him. He didn't have a mobile and the house didn't have a phone.

She was buggered.

Bruce walked past and gave her a small smile which she returned but the moment he looked away, it dropped.

"The Andromeda galaxy is disappearing. Three more stars have gone out."

"I don't understand." Clint said from his corner, "I thought stars are billions of years old. They're already dead aren't they?"

"Yes. They died billions of years ago but they can't be going out this quickly. It's impossible." Bruce answered.

"We should call in Thor. He'd know." Jane said, "He spoke about how the stars are similar to his."

"Thor is unreachable. The connecting streams are damaged. The only way to get back here is the Tesseract." Natasha answered; arms crossed and looking as intimidating as ever.

"Then why don't you?" Tony asked, "You lot have been experimenting on it. Haven't you opened the portal yet?"

Helen glanced up. Experimenting? Why were they experimenting on her Tesseract?!

She stood and walked over to the large window to stare upon the frost bitten New York. That fact put her in a worse mood than before.

Shouldn't they have given up by now? They knew they couldn't control the Tesseract, it wasn't their power to control. It was hers. She knew the Tesseract. She knew its power. She was the Tes-

Pain erupted in Helen's head. Her vision flashed white and her hands hit something hard. There was a faint crack then silence.

When she next opened her eyes, everything was fine. She took a deep breath and straightened, feeling a cold sweat on her back.

"Sir, there is a visitor for Miss Hurst."

"A visitor? Didn't know you had friends Helen." Tony smirked, "send 'em up Jarvis."

"Ha bloody ha." Helen rolled her eyes, curious herself as to who this visitor was, and as unfunny as Tony was, his words rang true. She walked away from the window to the lift just as the doors opened.

"Darling!"

Helen glimpsed long black hair, a thick furry collar and stunning green eyes before a slender arm slid around her waist and she was pulled into a tongue filled kiss.

Helen froze.

The woman, more recognisable by the second as none other than Lorelai pulled back but gave her a chaste kiss and a wicked smile, "I will not be denied my Queen for much longer." She whispered before turning them about to look at the others in the room.

Heart pounding and blood rushing to her face, Helen had momentarily forgotten about them.

"I'm afraid you have all been keeping Helena away from me."

Steve's jaw was nearly on the ground.

"We have?" Tony was quick to respond as everyone did naught but stare.

"Yes. We were meant to meet for lunch. She did message me but," Lorelai looked down at her and smiled, "I could not stay away."

"So you two?" Tony raised an eyebrow and held out his hand to her.

"Well I hope so. It has been a while now hasn't it."

"Wh-what?" Helen stuttered, feeling a sharp hand dig into her hip possessively as she shook Tony's hand.

"Tony Stark."

"It's hard not to know. Helena talks about you all, all the time."

"If we're holding Helen up then she should go." Tony grinned at Helen and winked, making even more blood rush to her face. It wouldn't be a surprise to find that she no longer had blood in the rest of her body by now.

"Stark." Natasha cut in but Tony waved her off.

"I hope you have a lovely lunch. Do you have enough? I know! There's a great restaurant called The Giza. Go there and tell them I sent you."

"Thank you. We'll look forward to it." Her hand laced into Helena's and with a pull, they entered the lift.

"Uh bye guys." Helen waved unsurely.

Clint and Bruce gave a small wave, looking amused more than anything, Tony was grinning but Natasha and Steve didn't look too impressed.

Just as the doors closed, Helen was pulled into Lorelai's body and kissed profoundly but when the lift jerked, Helen fought out of the grip and stumbled back, gasping.

"What are you doing?!" She yelped.

Lorelai smirked, "I was reclaiming what is mine from those fools."

Helen blinked and wiped her lips, looking about the glassed walls, "yours? I'm not yours. I'm err well I'm my own woman and I told you, I have a boyfriend."

Lorelai walked forward and pinned Helen against the wall, placing her arm above her head and leering down at her with intense green eyes.

"I love it when you're defensive." She leaned down and tried to kiss her but Helen turned her head so she kissed her cheek instead.

Lorelai pulled back slightly and her breath brushed over her skin making it tingle.

"I don't want to hurt you." Helen mumbled, avoiding her gaze altogether.

"You hurt me by not responding to my attentions. A Queen will not deny her King, will she?"

Silence filled the space.

Helen blinked.

Lorelai pulled back slightly and stroked Helen's hair back fondly, a small smile playing on her lips, "I do like playing with you Helena. But you do take things so seriously."

"King?" She said slowly, the realisation taking a while to hit home.

Then.

"Lo..ki?" She tried slowly, looking up into the green eyes.

Lorelai or rather Loki, smiled.

Helen's jaw dropped.

Loki took her hand as the lift doors opened and he pulled her out into the lobby where a man gave them their coats and then they exited onto the New York street. By the time Loki had hailed a cab and they were on their way back to the apartment, Helen took a deep breath and looked at Lorelai. No, Loki!

Anger filled her face and with a snarl, she punched him in the arm.

He flinched and looked at her with wide eyes.

"What was that for?"

"How dare you?!" She hissed, "You…I can't believe you! Argh! Jackass!" She began beating hard at his arms and chest until his defensive stance turned offensive and he caught her arms and held them tight.

She struggled, glaring daggers at him.

"You could've told me! At the party! You could've explained everything. Why did you hide from me?! Why did you lie to me?!" Tears welled in her brown eyes and Loki's smile faded.

"Oh my beauty." He titled his head then pulled her into his arms. She fought but he held strong until she fell still and took a deep breath.

"I hate you." She grumbled.

"I couldn't reveal myself to you because S.H.I.E.L.D has eyes everywhere. I would endanger you." He told a half truth.

"But you still could've said."

"I wanted to know how you were. If I had come to you as myself, you would have lied to make me feel better."

Helen slowly pulled out of his arms and looked up at him, bottom lip stuck out and cheeks still red.

"You're still a jackass. And then just now! What was that big display about? You could've just come in and asked instead of floundering around like a…like a….fish." She waved her hands and huffed at the crap delivery.

"You wouldn't have come with me if I hadn't. The last time we met when I was in this form, we left on strange terms."

"Of course we did. I had a boyfriend, I mean have a boyfriend, I mean argh! You are my boyfriend. You came onto me as a woman." She ended in a hiss.

"Why am I just a boy…friend? We are more than friends are we not?" He reached out and stroked the hair from her face, leaning with one arm on the back seat.

"It's an earth term. It means we're going out. We're a couple, partners or whatever but still, you messed with my head. Do you know how…how conflicted I was? Do you know, do you realise that I actually considered sleeping with you, with Lorelai? Because I thought I'd never see you again and I was so lonely and-" she stopped suddenly.

Loki looked over her contorted face, tears still in her eyes then she huffed and turned away from him.

Pain blossomed in Helen's head, making her wince. Her stomach hurt because everything was so tense and she just wanted to scream, cry then scream some more.

Warm breath rushed past her neck and arms wrapped around her, squeezing her into the bosom of Loki's female form.

"Forgive me." He muttered into her ear, "I just wanted to see you."

Helen sniffed and tried to ignore the light kisses he pressed to her neck.

"Will you let me apologise?" He asked, his fingers slipping through the gaps in her blouse to brush and circle her skin.

"No." She grumbled stubbornly, trying to ignore his wandering fingers.

"Don't make me beg." He threatened, a low growl in his voice.

"You always make me beg." She mumbled, feeling a flush rise on her cheeks.

Loki chuckled into her ear and his grip on her tightened, "you crave my touch."

"That's eighteen dollars."

The mood was broken. Helen blinked then went bright red when she found herself nearly on Loki's lap, her shirt undone up to her breasts. Scrambling into her bag, she grabbed some money and shoved it through the small hole, then clambered out, fingers fumbling at the buttons on her top.

Loki, Lorelai rather, just seemed to glide out of the taxi, looking as suave and beautiful as ever.

Helen rushed into the apartment complex, ignoring the doorman and went straight to the lift, trying to hide her beat red face.

Lorelai followed, a smirk on her face.

They entered the apartment and in the time it took for the door to close, Loki had Helen pinned up against the wall. He kissed her and she returned it more than willingly, winding their tongues against and around each other's. He gripped her bum and with a lift, pushed her hard against the wall.

Her legs wrapped around his waist but then she hesitated and pulled back. He followed her but was stopped by her grasping his head.

"Loki." She breathed, "Can you change back please?"

He looked over her face, mouth open slightly then nodded but he didn't look too pleased.

"It will take a while."

"I could wait forever for you." She kissed him, biting at his lip.

He growled, eyes flashing then let her down to the floor and went to the bathroom.

Helen watched him, hand to chest, trying to calm her breathing and the throbbing between her legs. She rushed into the kitchen, put the casserole she had made earlier into the oven and then went into the bedroom and quickly changed.

Loki exited the bathroom about ten minutes later, wearing only a pair of boxers that Helen had picked up for him; because he doubted he'd need any more clothing. He rushed into the bedroom but stopped by the door.

Helen went bright red and quickly covered her face.

"This felt like a good idea a few minutes ago." She muttered through her hands.

Loki thought it was a damn good idea.

Helen had clothed herself in thin black lingerie, leaving little to the imagination. A strip of fabric was wrapped around her breasts, covering perked nipples and on her waist was a pair of thin knickers that looked easy enough to rip off and on her hands was a pair of thin black gloves.

Loki's eyes ate her up as he looked over her and he took a deep breath. She was his again.

After a few seconds, Helen felt something brush against her legs and she spread her fingers to see Loki stood before her. His green eyes bright, filled with want.

His fingers brushed across her jaw and chills rolled up her back and her hands slowly lowered then he cupped her chin and pulled her up as he leaned down to kiss her.

Helen's heart pounded in her chest and she reached up and clutched onto the God, pulling him down on top of her.

* * *

*Sorry, I'm rubbish at sex scenes otherwise I would have put it in here*


	28. The Right Magic

"It's getting quite late." Helen mentioned, gently stroking her fingers through Loki's hair, "I have to be up in the morning."

"I have ways to make you stay." His bare legs moved under the covers and wrapped around hers, "I am a skilled warrior and sorcerer."

"You'd tie me down would you?" She raised an eyebrow.

"I would tie you down and have you in every way I pleased."

"You know, some people would call that rape."

"You'd love it." He smirked and kissed her, pulling her into his chest, she chuckled and nuzzled there, content to just lay in his arms, listening to his breathing and her own thoughts which were manly about what they were going to have for breakfast in the morning, or rather not have if he turned into another distraction. However they were soon interrupted by something she had never really taken notice of before.

"You're really cool."

He titled his head on the pillow and looked down at her, gently tracing his fingers over her back.

"I mean y'know cold. Not cold, cold but after…what we just did I thought you'd be warmer."

"You mean all hot, flushed and sweaty like you?" He grinned, "I'm a Frost Giant I don't do that."

"But when you fight you-"

"That's a whole different set of standards. I can control such things when I have been bedded."

Helen sniggered and sunk her head into the pillow as Loki rearranged himself and sat up, leaning his head on his hand to look down at her, his fingers slowly moving down her arm, leaving behind a trail of goose-bumps however his gaze couldn't help but slip to the large blue scar on her chest which was stretching further outwards. It made his stomach turn with dread.

"How long will we be staying here?" Helen asked, slipping an arm around his waist and imitating what he had done to her back, "when will we go back to Jotunheim?"

"You wish to return to the ice wasteland?"

"Of course, I was a Queen, I got to tell people what to do."

He laughed and kissed the side of her head, "you still are a Queen and you are more than obligated to tell people what to do. You are powerful, strong, independent and beautiful , also you have the most charming, eloquent, clever lover there could possibly be." His eyes flashed as he grinned happily.

"I would never have called Tony eloquent." She commented thoughtfully then laughed as he suddenly grabbed her sides and twisted her onto her back, pinning her to the bed.

"I think I must reiterate why I am the only man for you." He kissed her hungrily and was more than pleased when she returned his gusto, her fingers instantly digging into his hair and her legs stretched up and wrapped around his waist pulling him down to her warm body.

"We will go back thought, right?" She asked when he moved from her mouth onto her earlobe which made it quite hard to concentrate and her toes curled.

"When I find the right magic, we will return and you and I shall rule as the King and Queen that we are."

"Mhhm." She hummed happily and opened her mouth to say something but she stopped herself and stared wide eyed at the ceiling as he moved his attention onto her neck and downwards.

'Oh my God.' She thought, heart fluttering wildly in her chest as the realisation struck her like an arrow.

* * *

There was a sudden beeping sound and Helen's hand flew up to the underside of her pillow where her phone was well placed and she turned it off with a press of her button to instantly close her eyes again. She breathed deeply and cuddled into the bed, feeling a warm weight draped over her middle and she could feel Loki's presence led behind her too. It took a good few minutes for Helen to pull herself out of her sleep but she finally managed to look at her phone screen.

"You're late."

It was from Bruce. She sighed heavily and gave a girlish groan, stretching across the bed then she sat up and looked blearily around the room then stepped out of bed and shuffled into the bathroom. Except the moment she looked in the mirror and saw her reflection, the sleepiness was gone and her heart juddered in her chest. She clenched and unclenched her fists, noticing in disgust that the veins had nearly reached her eyes and they were looking pretty awful too, sunken in and reddened.

"Stop it." She growled slowly, pulling out the device which would absorb her power. It took longer to rid herself of the veins more than normal but it was easy to see that they had stretched further up her arms than ever before and her heart sunk when she thought about what Loki may think of her like this.

Bruce had to find a way to stop it before it took over and make-up would no longer be useful. Once the majority of veins were gone and the others could be hidden by clothing, she returned to the bedroom and changed into a pair of jeans and shirt then made sure to layer herself up for the cold outside. However as she pulled the scarf on around her neck, trying to be as quiet as possible, her eyes lingered on the God in her bed who had pulled the cover around him and his long legs were stretched out to the edge of her bed and he looked so calm and she couldn't help but smile. Tying the scarf, she padded over to the bed and stooped down to kiss him on the forehead and she lingered there for a little longer, thinking that she'd tell him when she got home, she'd tell him those three little words that she had never thought much about and hopefully he'd return it, or even accept it. As long as he didn't reject her.

"I love you." she whispered, stroking his hair back and hoping she could be as confident when she got home and as silently as she could, she slipped out of the apartment and prepared herself for the cold outside whilst in the lightening darkness of the bedroom, a pair of green eyes glowed.


	29. What Other's can See

"How you doing in there?" Bruce's voice crackled over the intercom.

"Dandy." Helen stared at the white plastic a few inches away from her face, trying not to let the cramped conditions panic her. The MRI scanner had been slightly updated and tweaked by Bruce and Tony to accommodate Helen's overreacting powers and somehow they thought she was skinny enough to squeeze into such a small space.

"Has anything come up?" She asked.

"Weelll," he started, "I can't determine anything until it's all uploaded."

Helen sighed and closed her eyes to listen to the hum and whir of the machine.

"How's your girlfriend?"

Girlfriend? She frowned then suddenly realised what he meant, "Oh yes. She's fine. Yeah."

"Have you been getting up to much?"

Helen tried not to snort. It would be hard to leave the house with Loki let alone do anything and apart from bedroom plus more activities, there wasn't much they had done. "Not really. The snow storm stops us most of the time. Would you know of anywhere to go?"

Bruce chuckled, "If I know somewhere, I've probably broken it."

"You haven't hulked out for months. You're good at keeping control."

"I have my ways. How do you control yours?"

Helen hesitated, "Tony gave me some tools. I let off steam through them."

"And…"

"And I charge Tony's power grid too, sometimes." She muttered reluctantly.

"And…"

She huffed, "also Tony's suits."

"That's not good. How about the fluctuations and memory lapses?"

Helen's heart skipped a beat and in her silence, Bruce spoke.

"It wasn't hard to not notice, these tests on you don't just tell me about your Tesseract power usage."

"And here I thought I hid it so well."

"Does your girlfriend know?"

"Bits and pieces." She didn't want him to know, he had enough things to worry about, "I don't want to worry…or scare her away."

"Ah." Recognition fell between them then there was a beeping noise and lights flickered on.

"Okay. You get yourself sorted and I'll meet you outside."

The machine pushed her out on the bed and the moment she was free, she sat up and took a deep breath, glad to be in an open space and she began pulling on her clothes, noticing with a flush that there was a bite mark on her hip. She'd get him for that. She walked out of the MRI room, smirking stupidly to herself and approached Bruce who was leant against a desk. He looked over her and smiled to himself, looking through the paperwork.

"So, anything different?"

"Same as last time but I want you to come in everyday for check-ups. We can't let this increase in fluctuations pass."

"Really? But..like…"

"If you can detach yourself from your girlfriend for this long, I'm sure you can manage." He said, smiling down at the paperwork.

"You make me sound clingy? Am I being clingy?" Maybe she _should_ try and stay out longer.

He chuckled, "No. it's fine. Just enjoy yourself."

She smiled and scratched her head, "So, everything's pretty average now, right?"

"Yes. Everything's fine. You go on home."

Helen grabbed her coat and pulled it on, "Okay. Don't stay too long tonight and don't let Tony nag you."

"I've turned off all coms."

"Thanks for everything Bruce." She smiled, "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Have fun with your girlfriend." He smiled after her as she walked to the door and she waved back to him, a large smile on her face.

The door closed and Bruce's smile faded into a frown, he looked to the paper in his hands and his worry lines creased heavily. He stood with a sigh. "Jarvis. Could you show me Helen's previous tests?"

"Of course sir."

Helen's tests appeared on numerous screens and his shoulders dropped.

"Damn."


	30. Unprepared

Helena stepped out of the doors of Tony's building and looked either way, pulling out her ringing phone, she thought she might go and buy Loki some clothes, especially if he was stayigng. pressed the green button on her phone and lifted it to her ear, stepping to the edge of the sidewalk and glancing back up at the skyscraper's.

"Hello?"

Wham! Lights exploded in front of her eyes, and pain erupted in her head like a gunshot. She screamed and stumbled back, hitting a man in a suit. Her hands snapped to her head and a blast of electricity exploded from her hand and hit a taxi. It detonated into a ball of flames and flipped to the other side of the road, almost crushing a pedestrian. Helen dropped her phone and she fell to one knee, gasping as the pain almost instantly lessened; she blinked tears from her eyes and shook, electricity fizzing across her skin.

W-what was that?!

It was like someone had burned her head with a raging hot iron but that wasn't what scared her. What scared her was that the man she had bumped into was now a smouldering shell of his former self. She screamed and scrambled to her feet, rushing away, hoping it was fake but when she saw that everyone was staring, she knew. There was a gush of wind and Helen watched with wide eyes as the blackened body cracked and fell to the floor, imploding in a plume of ash. Helen reached to her face but flinched, the gloves were gone and her pale hands pulsated with blue veins, looking angrier than ever. She flicked them and lightning struck out across the floor, hitting a manhole cover sending it flying into the opposite building and other bolts of electricity seared huge scars into the tarmac.

There was a sudden crash and Helen looked up to see small flashing lights falling to the ground but even more threatening was the huge form of the Hulk as he soared out of the window.

"GET DOWN!" She shouted and launched herself away from the skyscraper into the road just as the smashed glass hit the floor like deadly rainfall.

Helen turned and saw the Hulk fall into the street, huge arms swinging as he surveyed his surroundings and then he roared. People screamed and fled but Helen couldn't. Her heart was jarring in her chest as she struggled to breathe. The pain drilling into her head was immense and she grabbed either sides of it and bent over, clenching her eyes closed.

"Go away." She ground out through gritted teeth.

The Hulk turned when flashing lights tickled the side of his vision and down the long street he could see a ball of electricity sparking and growing bigger. He grinned, feeling the power surging off of the source, it grew stronger and stronger, sending heat waves and electrical disturbances throughout the street and on through New York. Power lines exploded in buildings and along streets and the interior of Tony's building flashed and exploded, sending people running.

* * *

On the other side of New York, Tony's suit suddenly powered out and with a yell he dropped out of the air, plummeting towards the floor but it didn't take much for him to get the power running again and he kicked himself into the air. Narrowly avoiding a few civilians.

"What the hell was that?!" He snapped into the darkness of his helmet and with a jolt, it abruptly came back online, flashing red.

"Sir, there's a disturbance at Stark tower. Miss Hurst and Dr Banner are fighting."

"What, an argument?"

"Not quite."

* * *

The Hulk saw his powering target and he began to walk, turning it into a jog then a run, raising his fist and with a deafening roar, he flung it down onto the being. His strength had no match.

CRACK!

His fist jerked past the figure and ripped down through the tarmac, jarring into the subway tunnel underneath; he blinked, panting heavily and looked up. Helena stood a few inches away, electricity sparking across her body, the blue veins had stretched up and across her face, digging into the hairline and darkening the area around glowing white eyes. She slowly twisted her head to look at the Hulk and her white eyes reflected in his own.

Then she raised her hand slowly and with a small flick, the Hulk was lifted off the floor and thrown back six blocks with tremendous force that sent him tearing through the tarmac and crashing into the subway below. Helen looked to her hands, turning them slowly and she let out a long breath and what followed it was a small smile.

"Someone want to explain to me what's happening?" A voice echoed above her head.

She looked up as a particularly icy chill rushed through the buildings, buffeting the flying Iron Man as he looked down at her. She watched him, curiously eyeing every inch of the mechanical body.

"Another layer of skin." Her voice echoed into every crevice of New York but it wasn't deep and booming, it was gentle and curious, like a child.

"Okay, who are you? And what have you done with Helen?" Tony asked, slowly lowering to the ground.

"Helen?"

Helen suddenly jerked backwards and a hand flew to her head; she gasped and choked, feeling her whole body tremble. Tony took a step forward but Helen took one back, feeling extremely feeble and powerless. What was that? _What was that_?!

Tears filled her eyes and she moaned, "No." and put her hands to her head, looking in panic at the tarmac.

"Helen." Tony took another step forward but stopped when a huge shadow overcame his head and he looked up to see the Hulk fly through the air.

"BRUCE!"

Helen looked up just as the Hulk hit the floor and with a roar, he lunged forward; there was a flash of light and a loud clang. Loki twisted the staff in his hand and swept his cloak behind him, glaring pointedly at the Hulk as a magical barrier protected himself and Helena.

"I give you warning monster; flee now before I unleash my fury!" He ordered.

"Loki." Helen sniffed, feeling suddenly a lot better and a lot worse at the same time.

"Loki?!" Tony was flabbergasted. How could he? It was impossible!

The Hulk smirked and with one swing of his ginormous hand, he broke the shield and hit Loki throwing him into the side of Tony's building but hands took their moment to slide around Helen's arms and she looked round, wide eyed, "Loki."

He didn't look as happy as he began pulling her down the street, his grip so strong it hurt, "Forgive me Helena." He said through gritted teeth as the Hulk roared angrily behind them when he realised he had been fooled.

"Why?" She wheezed, breathless from the change.

"Everything I touch falls apart at my fingertips." His green eyes burned into hers, "I tried to find something, anything that would hold up the walls against the Tesseract." He pulled her into a small alleyway and pressed her against the wall, "my magic could only last for so long."

Helen blinked, "wha-what are you on about?"

He looked over her pale face, feeling sick to his stomach and trying desperately not to do something rash. "Since we've been together, since Jotunheim I have been casting spells on you. I have drawn up on all of my magic reserves to protect you from the Tesseract."

"You were…"

"That is why I couldn't see you. I've been trying to find new and bigger spells to stop the Tesseract but I've failed you."

A car shot past them and exploded on impact with another car.

"I'm going to die aren't I?" She said quietly, more as a statement than a question.

"Unthinkable. I will not let you leave me. We will find a way." He squeezed her arms and as frightened and terrified as she was, Helen couldn't help but feel her heart grow for this man, "what happens when…when it gets through again?"

His eyes searched hers, his face tense as he held back his answer. Helen found the lapels of Loki's coat and gripped them tightly, feeling fresh tears wavering in her eyes.

"I won't fail you Helena. I swear."

She opened her mouth to ask him if he promised but there was a burst of pain and her head exploded in pain making her scream and jerk her hand out. She hit Loki square in the chest and he was blown off his fleet to slam into the opposing wall where with a flash of lightning, he dropped heavily to the floor with a heavy thump

"Loki!" She screeched and clutching her head, she stepped towards him but lightning struck the floor by his foot and she jumped back, tears filling her eyes and dread flooded her stomach. What if she had hurt him? What if she had _killed_ him?!

She had to get away. Staggering out of the alley she tried to run, tried to get her legs to function but they tripped and tangled underneath her and when she threw out her hands to balance herself, lightning exploded from her hands and streaked across the road and the wall of a building.

"Stop it! !" She grabbed her head and wrenched herself into the street, heart hammering, she had to get away from Loki. She had to get away from everyone.

Wham!

* * *

Loki groggily raised his head from his chest and winced at the pain in his back and head, he twitched and looked round but jumped when he found Helena gone. His heart panicked and he stumbled to his feet and stepped out of the alleyway but jerked back when he Hulk suddenly charged forwards with fist raised and _wham_! He watched a figure fly through the air and the further they flew, the more he realised who it was and then they crashed onto the top of a car. It imploded beneath her, the windows crashed out and the roof cracked inwards and…and…she didn't move an inch.

"No." He muttered, "no, no, no, no!" his legs like lead lifted and he began to walk, stumbling past the cars, "HELENA!" He screamed and his legs turned into a run, he could see her, he could see the misshapen, broken body but then the red armoured body of Iron Man stepped in front of him. he grabbed Loki and held him back but this didn't stop him fighting visciously.

"HELENA!" He had to get to her! He had to help her! He could, he could do it!

BANG!

High above the city, the clouds began to distort and twist, turning blacker than ever. Lightning flashed and thunder roared. It began to rain and snow and hail. The earth trembled under an unseen and unfelt power and a strange darkness overtook everything.

Iron Man, clutching Loki as tightly as possible however much the God fought, looked up.

"Sir," Jarvis spoke, "The electrical interference, it's-"

"The Tesseract. I know." He muttered but it didn't make him feel any better.

A blue energy began to pulse in the sky, like smoke and water and fire as it grew and grew, it stretched across the sky until-

_RrrrriiiiiiiiiiiP!_

The sound tore across the globe, making the earth tremble but no one would really know the true sound of time and space being torn apart at the seams, allowing a giant black hole to appear in the sky.

"Sir," Jarvis' voice shook as the electrical interference became too much, "that's th- -tauri uni- shall I ca- th- avengers?"

"I think they know."

Loki had even stopped in his struggles to look up at the torn sky and he began to physically shake. No, it wasn't possible. He had hidden himself! How did they know to look _here_?! He had run so far and for what? There was a crunch from the street and Loki looked down.

A large, well armoured figure stood over the broken car and as he turned, a motionless Helena slid into his arms. The dark purple being looked down at Helena's crippled form and through the slits in her eyes, she weakly looked back at him but it had become too much now, she just needed sleep and sleep she did.

Loki stared, mouth agape and he began to visibly shake, "no, please." He muttered.

"Your worst punishment fallen King." The being called loudly, a dark grin across his features, "the woman you love, destroyed by your greed." His eyes flashed at Loki who slipped to his knees, hand pressing to his mouth while the other dug out the blood from under his skin.

The purple being tilted his head and with a whoosh of air, disappeared. A strong wind whipped through the street, blowing with it the debris of the fight and silence filled it. Against a wall, Bruce slowly looked up, stark naked and covered in dust and bruises, he looked around, wincing from the flashing blue lights of the tear in space and time. A loud whirring siren came from the distance and Iron Man stepped back from the kneeling God who stared at exactly where that being had been.

His hand slipped from his mouth as his heart shattered into a million pieces. Why was so much pain placed upon him? Why did he have to suffer such cruel, sadistic fates? Why did he have to lose the only person who made him happy? He choked back a sob and bent over on the floor, burying his head into his arms. He didn't care when operatives suddenly surrounded him. He didn't care when guns were pressed into his back and he didn't care when he was led away into the back of an inescapable van. Helena wasn't dead but that fact didn't hearten him; Helena was in the hands of the death seeker Thanos now. She was worse than dead.


	31. When we Need them Most

"Would anyone like to tell me what in _God's_ name is going on?" Fury demanded, stalking into the conference room of the Helicarrier, his forehead riddled with stress veins. A few heads rose to watch him but immediately set back to work, analysing the past few hours of footage from the street of New York and sat around the rounded table were the Avengers, strangely quiet.

"It looks like we've got another New York saga on our hands." Agent Hill said, approaching him with a clipboard and electronic pad, "the tear in the sky is exactly the same as it was last time."

"So there's a threat of the Chitauri again? I thought you destroyed them Stark."

"You shouldn't be worrying about the Chitauri, they're not a threat anymore." Bruce said, rubbing his stinging eyes with his fingers.

"They were a big enough threat last time, what other alien do we have to deal with?" Fury asked, spinning the seat round and sitting down.

The Avengers looked awkwardly at, or away from one another, some more sure than others but all of them knew and it made their stomachs turn.

"Helen is our new threat." Tony said, pulling out his see through phone and throwing up some images into the centre of the table and they hovered, showing graphs that all spiked higher than the actual graphs themselves, "she's not our little lightning girl anymore."

Agent Hill suddenly cut in, "you've been hiding this information from us? This is a serious case." She glared at Tony who was unfazed by it.

"Why would we inform you of a potential weapon? We may work alongside you but we don't trust you." Tony said calmly.

"We could have put her in a safe environment and helped her deal with the power surges." Hill said angrily, "this is misconduct on the worst level! You've pu-"

"That's enough Agent." Fury cut in and she fell silent instantly but that didn't stop her glaring at the gathered men and women, "there's no use arguing when we have a dilemma on our hands. Who's controlling this business, Loki?"

"It definitely sounds like something he would do, especially if the Tesseract's involved. How did he get back anyway? I thought Thor was going to deal with him?" Clint pulled his foot up onto the seat and leaned back, his eyes constantly moving.

"Thor has a soft spot for him, I wouldn't be surprised." Natasha commented looking down at her own electronic device at the image of Loki sat in the 4 walled quarantine cell, not moving an inch.

"No, Loki is…well he's infatuated with her." Bruce said slowly.

Everyone one looked at him in surprise except Tony who stood up and began pacing, tapping at his phone.

"Now how do you guess that Doctor Banner?" Fury asked, leaning forward onto the table.

"You guys remember Lorelai? I figured it out when he came to the fight and tried to take her away."

"Wait, you're saying that Lorelai….Helen's girlfriend is Loki." Steve asked, looking as confused at everyone felt.

"Loki's a skilled magic user according to legend." Tony cut in, "it wouldn't be surprising if he could change gender, a good skill if you ask me."

"What we mean is," Bruce gave Tony a look but turned it back to the group, "Loki wanted to protect her, if you saw how hard he fought to get to her when she was on the car, you'd know."  
"So, ignoring something that should have been brought to my attention," Fury said bitterly, "who's this guy?" He threw up his own image of the giant purple alien, clutching Helen in his arms but no one answered, staring at the image.

"I think we need to have a little chat with Loki." Tony said, pulling back the images and locking them away before S.H.I.E.L.D could get their greedy hands on them.

"We can't trust him and he won't want to talk to us." Natasha said, "he's a monster."

"He won't talk to any of us unless we make him a deal." Clint added, "what can we give him, he's a God?"

"We can give him Helen, if he likes her then he'll want her back and we can kill two birds with one stone." Steve suggested however the look that Bruce and Tony shared wasn't a confident one.

* * *

Had it not been for the heart monitor on the outside of the cell the being within could have been presumed dead. He sat with his head in his hands, letting the world tick by as his thoughts occupied every waking second. How could he have been so _stupid_? All of his magic and _all of his_ prowess had led him to the very thing he feared, his devotion to Helena had blinded him from the signs, the obvious signs of her lack of control and the oncoming storm that was Thanos.

If only he had never seen her again, if only he had hidden his affection but their days together had been fruitful, he had enjoyed every moment of her time and now he would suffer in the memory of it. What would Thanos do? Would he make her commit the same acts as he had done? He would break her, he would break her physically and emotionally and mentally then use her against him and he would have to resort to ending her. His stomach rolled sickeningly.

And now he was locked up inside the Helicarrier, waiting for his fate to be decided by mortals and if he had it his way, he would destroy them all if he had to, they were nothing to him, filth to be sw-

"We need your help." The speaker crackled and he slowly raised his gaze to lay it upon the beast, Dr Bruce Banner but he said nothing, "and you're the one who knows more than we do."

Loki's lips twitched into a hardened smile and a long silence fell between them both until Bruce spoke again, eager to get Loki to respond, "I didn't realise you were so adept at magic, turning yourself in Lorelai."

Loki's interested piqued a notch and he concentrated on the Doctor, leaning one elbow on his knee.

"Helen was quite taken with you but that wasn't the only reason you came back was it? You knew," Bruce put his hands in his trouser pockets, "about the Tesseract and what it was doing to her."

"Helena is connected to the Tesseract, when she found me in Asgard I knew that something was wrong."

"Then you know that we're in trouble, you must know how to stop it."

"The Tesseract is a fixed point, it is and always has been there and contains insurmountable power, you cannot simply _stop_ it." He hissed, listening to his own words and feeling his heart burn.

"You thought you could supress it and it's been done before with the cube and we can do it again but we need your input. You know so much more than us, you know who has Helen."

Loki's eyes sharpened and he clenched his fists feeling a burning in his stomach, "the being you refer to is called Thanos, he is a Titan who possesses unrivalled strength, cunning and power. He has hunted the Tesseract for centuries and he intends to destroy everything with it."

"But what is the power of the Tesseract? What advantage does it give him?"

Loki stood up, towering over the man on the other side of the glass, "he has no advantage. He has already won."


	32. To Be Human

It was cloudy. It was always cloudy in England but today seemed to be especially grey and dreary. Spots of rain dotted the rubber like floor of the playground and in the distance thunder rumbled.

"One, two, three, four…"

One of the swings in the park moved oddly.

"Five, six….seven."

The lonely girl let out a long breath and twitched when a raindrop fell onto her nose; she grasped the metal chains of the swing and planted her feet against the floor to gently push herself off again, staring ahead but not really seeing. Cars rolled on past, most heading towards the hospital but none of the drivers took notice of the girl, wishing the world would swallow her up. She had never known it possible to feel emotionally and mentally numb but there it was, the feeling that if she spoke her words would be sucked into a void and forgotten, that she was no longer important or useful or loved, that she was just there. She existed.

There was a soft squeak from the swing beside her and a woman with black hair sat down, looking in the same direction as the girl and slowly, the swing tilted back and forth and they swung in silence for a long while as another roll of thunder rumbled the skies. The girl gazed towards the hospital which looked to be shrouded by the darkest clouds and the woman followed her gaze.

"Time will pass, as it always does." She sounded so very old and so very tired.

"But she'll still be ill. She'll _always_ be ill." The girl spat, taking in a shuddering breath and reaffirming her hold on the chains.

"Everything dies."

"_So_! Why did she have to get ill? She didn't deserve it, she was always good…she always…" tears filled her eyes and she sniffed, unable to finish her sentence.

"But you will move on." The woman said softly, sounding confused herself, "this pain…it will always be with you. I've never known pain like I have known yours."

"Fuck off!" The girl stood up sharply and stormed away but realised she had nowhere to go, there was nowhere for her anymore and it made her heart dissolve. She clenched and unclenched her fists then turned but stopped and took a deep breath as fresh tears filled her eyes, she teetered on her feet but then the woman appeared by her side, looking out at the hospital.

"I don't want to go back." The girl whispered, her words catching in her throat, she didn't want to see it, she didn't want to accept that her Mum….that she wasn't going to be there anymore, that this was it. If she never went back to the hospital then surely that would be a saved point in time, it would always be a place where her Mum would be alive. Her chest felt tight and her breathing suddenly became laboured, a horrible sickness swept over her and the tears streamed from her eyes. A pain filled scream escaped her throat but no sound came out, trapped by the bulge of anger, pain and sadness, and knees shaking she slid to the floor, burying her face into her arms as her back heaved out great sobs.

The woman watched the girl sob endlessly on the ground, buried in herself and conflicted with such sadness and anger that it seemed to radiate and a frown creased across the woman's brow as she remembered this. She remembered the pain, the heartbreak, the loneliness, she remembered all of it and it stung her heart but it shouldn't have, she didn't feel the things of humans or at least, she never had before. She raised her vein filled hands which bulged with power coursing through them and twitched each finger, staring at them as though she had never seen them before.

"It seems I have come to a crossroads of my own doing." She said quietly, "and **I** am the one with the choice." And behind the woman's eyes another pair opened.


	33. Since the Beginning

Loki sat on a rather uncomfortable plastic chair, his legs stretched out before him as he glared sourly at the people who walked by. The Helicarrier was constantly full of noise and the cockpit was no different, the huge windows showed only cloudy sky, nothing of interest, so he watched the humans instead. They clutched clipboards and electrical equipment and he could plainly see their nerves frazzle whenever they walked past him or came under the scrutiny of his glare, truly his first similarity of the human's to ants was true. They scurried and clicked messages at each other, eyes flashing between himself and the Tesseract which sat securely in the middle of the table within a glass box.

Loki toyed with a large coin he had procured from a passing officer and it rolled over his fingers with fluidity but he didn't have much care for it. He was watching the large metallic room, his eyes tracing over numerous computers and screens and wires. He did not like it. At all. Then he heard voices and turned to look at the lift, there was a soft ding and four figures walked out.

Nick Fury, Natasha Romanoff, Bruce Banner and Tony Stark.

"Consorting with criminals? My day gets more interesting by the second, how you doing reindeer games?" Stark asked, his usual confidence dripping off of him.

Loki stood and looked to Banner as he seemed to be the only one with sense around here. "What business requires us to be here?" Loki asked, "I was occupied."

"We've had a realisation of sorts. We've got a guest coming." Bruce said, sitting next to him, "she's an expert on astrology."

"We also want to ask how advanced this Thanos is with technology. You've only told us so much." Tony said, sitting across the table along with Natasha as Fury went and spoke with Maria Hill.

"He is more advanced than you would like to believe."

"Yeah," Stark leant his elbows on the table, "but how advanced? Can he hack into our technology?"

Loki tried his best not to belittle the fool, "I would not be surprised. He has knowledge far beyond that of others."

"You sound like you worship him a bit too much."

Loki's eyes hardened and a sharp chill took over the room.

"Tony." Bruce warned.

An awkward silence fell as Loki and Tony glared daggers at each other across the table but it was broken when the lift dinged and out walked two very familiar people. Loki did his best not to stand. Erik Selvig and Jane Foster had walked in, both looking a bit nervous.

"Loki." Selvig was more than surprised, "what are you doing here?"

Loki sneered at him but his eyes moved to Jane who seemed to hold him in a light no one else did.

"He's our special guide." Stark said as Bruce stood and shook their hands.

"It's good to see you again Bruce." Selvig said cheerily, looking a bit rushed off his feet.

"What information do you have for us? This is no place for people such as yourself." Loki stood, glaring down at Jane Foster who shifted uncomfortably.

"Jane, could you tell the group what you told me." Bruce asked gently.

"Well," she shrugged into a much more confident frame of mind, "when we returned from err space, the ice place, me and Helen….she wasn't exactly herself." Jane moved to the table and they all sat as she explained to them every detail about what had happened in the desert.

"What did she do afterwards?" Stark asked, pulling out his phone and leaning casually back against the seat.

"What do you mean?" Jane asked as Loki locked his gaze onto the Tesseract.

"Did she have any adverse reaction? Anything?"

"She just passed out. Then you guy's, S.H.I.E.L.D came."

"Thanos has the technology to locate the Tesseract. It was how I originally came here, if there was a flux of power then he could have easily pinpointed its location." Loki spoke absently, suddenly feeling very stupid.

"So Helena accidently called him here?" Natasha leant forward on the table.

"I would presume so."

"But then why did it take him so long to get here?" Natasha spread her hands for someone to answer and this time it was Selvig who spoke.

"I think he's been here much longer than that." Everyone looked at him, "since the Chitauri's defeat and what I've heard Loki say," Selvig gestured towards the God who rubbed his lip with his finger, "Thanos courts war. If we can defeat some of his army then I expect he sees us as a challenge. He sees the Avenger's as a force to be destroyed. It took us a while but after Jane came back, we started noticing that the stars were going out but not just stars. The Ursa Major has completely disappeared in days."

"I'm sure I've asked this before," Clint Barton walked in, "but stars are old. We're looking at them through time. How can they disappear now?"

"The Tesseract is not only a portal of space. It changes time and space to the whim of the holder. With Thanos in hold of Helena who possesses the power of the Tesseract, it is apparent that he is traversing the time continuum to get his desired objective of killing for Lady Death."

There was another silence but this time not of awkwardness, but of everyone thinking.

"How do we stop someone who can control time and space?"

Another silence, then,

"Shit."

Everyone looked to Tony whose face had noticeably drained of colour.

"Selvig, you were right. He's been here from the start." Stark threw up some images into the middle of the table, "you know you turned big and green," he glanced at Bruce, "that was Thanos. He's hacked into the satellites. He used a low frequency to bring out the Hulk, the same with Helen. She was on the tip of changing into the Tesseract and he gave it to her."

Two video's started playing on the screen, one of Bruce in the Stark medical facility and the other of outside the building showing Helen and at the exact same time, they answered their phones thus leading them into a frenzied fit. Loki tapped his lip and ignoring everyone else as they nattered to each other in a rush and he reached forward to pluck the glass box off of the Tesseract.

"Loki." Fury's voice warned from the corner but he ignored it and picked up the cube.

It didn't hurt like he thought it would, he turned it in his hand and stood back, looking through it and as he did, he realised with a sinking heart what was wrong. With a sharp crack, he hit it against the table and it shattered. Thousands of shards crumbled and rushed away from the centre, flashing blue but as it did so the colour receded until it became as clear as the glass it had been contained in.

The whole control panel quietened.

"Helena is now the Tesseract's vessel. To defeat Thanos, we must obtain Helena."

"And then what?" Jane asked, however everyone knew the answer to that and it didn't fill them with hope.

Loki stayed silent, staring at the remnants of the once most powerful object in the universe.


	34. Countdown

It was a dark day that followed Loki's freedom from S.H.I.E.L.D's prison and no one expected it. A small red light on the dash of many controls began to blink in and out of existence, a warning, a message, one that would fill the hearts of men with fear. But this little red light wasn't singular; it was appearing on dashboards across the whole world, attached to highly important machinery.

10.

The first to notice was a young woman, who had just so happened to be passing to get a cup of coffee from the machine. She walked over and tapped at the light, wondering if it was broken.

9.

The Avengers had separated across the Helicarrier, Bruce and Tony looking into ways of destroying the Tesseract and calling Helen back to them. Hawkeye sat in the cafeteria, staring out of one of the many windows, his thoughts straying to the fight that would certainly be upon them soon and a deck below him, Natasha trained relentlessly against a punching bag with Steve sat on the side-lines, watching, thinking. And the only non-Avenger on board lay upon a hard bed, staring up at the metallic ceiling, his green eyes seeing nothing as his mind reminded him of horrid memories.

8.

Suddenly Nick Fury's mobile rang loudly in his pocket, his earpiece screeched as someone shouted at him and video calls rushed to be answered on the multiple computer screen's. He jumped up as Maria Hill ran towards him.

7.

Underground bunkers across the world screeched with sirens and blinded with flashing lights and within them workers panicked, trying to figure out what had happened. Why had everything suddenly turned itself on?

6.

Panic flooded those who knew but to the unknowing, it was a normal day in a normal life and nothing was wrong. The sky wasn't distorting, no aliens were attacking and they were safe.

5.

The Helicarrier burst into life with sirens and lights, making everyone jump and look up. High alert, top priority. Everyone to their positions, effective immediately.

4.

The Avengers and Loki dropped what they were doing instantly and rushed to the conference room, startled to find that every screen was flashing red, showing images of holes opening up in the ground across the world.

3.

High above the earth, in the darkness of space, a thick purple finger pulled away from a large button and a wide, malicious grin spread across Thanos' face and behind him, the Tesseract stood.

2.

The men and women of the world who knew, watched with impounding doom as missiles, nuclear weapons and bombs ignited at their bases, gathering enough power to be fired as the weapons of mass destruction homed in on the cities of the world.

1.

The normal day was over.


	35. The plans of Aliens and Men

Steve jumped over the humungous upturned slab of asphalt and slid down it, to land with a thump in the wreckage of the subway, he pulled a torch off his belt and walked on, clutching a backpack in his hand. he was out of breath and the bag weighed heavier than it had on his going out but he could manage, eyes accustoming to the darkness of the subway as he walked further into it. He made odd twists and turns, delving deeper into the broken earth until he approached a small crack in the wall where two men stood outside, clutching every weapon possible.

The S.H.I.E.L.D agents saluted him and let him pass through the crack to emerge into a massive cavern. It was filled with agents, the odd civilian or two and plenty of mechanical items; noise echoed off the walls and he walked towards an agent and handed him the backpack then went to Tony who was leant over a table, adding some special specifications to his armour.

"Here," he dropped a few batteries into a metal dish, "these were all I could find before the Chitauri saw me."

"Super, thanks." Tony said stonily, not even looking up from his suit. He had been like this for weeks now, too invested in his work to talk properly and it was understandable. Steve clapped him on the shoulder and walked away, to talk to Bruce.

A pair of green eyes watched the milling men and women as they did their best to survive. Indeed they were like ants, no, they were like cockroaches; they got everywhere and survived everything. Loki watched them with half scorn and half appraisal, it was hard not to admire the way they worked to help each other, although they were incredibly noisy creatures. Thanos' attack had been precise and genius, without even getting involved, he had turned the humans greatest weapons upon themselves and had obliterated their world, targeting heavily populated areas and crucial points in the world. He had reduced the humans to their primitive, scavenging selves and had then sent wave after wave of Chitauri to finish the job.

It hadn't even been a war. It had been a domination. Loki's blood boiled when he thought about how he had just been a pawn from the beginning, once he had become King of Midgard then Thanos would have just loved to wipe it out from beneath him, the final punishment. The fallen King.

"Loki?"

He looked down to see Banner waving him down, he stood from the bent metal work of the grid and dropped down, "have you stabilised the structure?"

"It looks like it. We just need your skills now." Bruce said, approaching the metal table where a staff lay, looking a lot like the one Loki had been given by the Others. There was a crude crystal attached to the top.

"It has all the same components that the Tesseract has. If used right, we can use it on Helena and it will draw the Tesseract from her."

"You sure this'll work?" Steve asked, not looking too convinced.

"I can use a special spell, that will cause the first connection to become binding. As long as the Tesseract can be contained within it." Loki picked up the staff and flexed his fingers across the metal.

"By my calculations, it will. We have one shot."

"Then I had better take that shot." Clint commented from behind them, sat on a metal table and cleaning the end of one of his arrows.

"You cannot. Only I can perform the right magic to bind it."

"How do we even call Helena out? Surely Thanos will be keeping a close eye on her. If we take this fight to him, we have to take it to the very end." Steve said, tapping his finger on the table.

"Thanos relishes in combat. He will not turn down a fight against the Avenger's and he enjoys the feeling of fear and hopelessness. I am certain he will bring Helena as a test of his strength."

"We have to distract him, then Loki can get up and hit Helena with what he's got. Doesn't seem too difficult." Clint shrugged.

"Thanos is a skilled warrior. He will expect a diversion."

"Loki, you can do that multiple thing right?" Steve asked.

"I can project myself, yes."

"Do that. We'll have everyone attack him, all at once. One big attack, blind him to what you're actually doing." Steve said, "we need to be tactical. Any weaknesses?"

"Not that I am aware."

"Then we find one."

* * *

The Tesseract pulled her sight out from the cavern under the wreckage of the city and looked over the rocky formation of the asteroids. She stood tall, seeing the Other conversing with Thanos, not daring to look at him in fear yet she approached with ease and with a sweep of her arm, bowed.

Thanos turned his full attention to the blank, vein filled face of the girl.

"The Avengers plot your demise."

Thanos let out a great boom of a laugh.

"They plan to bring you out into the open and commence with a head on attack."

"Then Loki did not know me as well as I thought. This is good! I have not partaken in a fight for a while." Thanos stood, towering over everything, "we will meet them with valour and humour. Tesseract." He placed his large hand on her shoulder, "watch for when they are ready and we will meet them." He sounded jovial.

The Tesseract nodded, glancing at the Other whose grey lip had curled.

"Maybe I will save the cretin Loki for you. If you serve me well."

"I will welcome such a gift my Lord." He drawled, bowing, his eyes not moving from the Tesseract as she stared out over the rocks, seeing things that neither of them had ever witnessed.

"Once I have defeated the Avenger's, I will destroy their world as well. It is useless to me. Prepare the atom dispersion bomb and set its direction for earth."

"Yes my Lord." The Other creaked as the Tesseract delved her eye into the underground cavern of the city again.


	36. All or Nothing

The city of New York had been flattened, destroyed and broken. The only buildings remaining were but skeletal remains and within them the skeletal remains of the many thousands of people who had perished in the devastation of atomic bombs. The only things making noise were that of the crumbling stones and the varied footsteps of the Avenger's and allies; they walked through the wreckage and came upon the building that had once been Stark tower and only a few items showed that it had once been a towering structure, a large T filling a hole in the ground and the group slowed to a stop beside it.

Captain America stepped forward, holstered with many guns and bullets and he looked up to the clear blue sky, ignoring the oncoming spring wind as it whistled through the crack and crevices.

"THANOS!" He shouted and his voice echoed eerily around them, "THANOS, THIS IS IT NOW. WE'VE COME T-"

There was a sudden distortion of light and air, wavering oddly as though there was a strong surge of heat and with a flash of blue light the massive purple alien materialised on top of an upturned piece of asphalt.

"No need to shout soldier." He smirked, pulling a gauntlet tighter over his wrist.

Loki felt his heart miss a beat when he saw that Thanos wasn't alone, his target stood to the right of the Titan except she didn't look anything like herself. Her whole body was covered in bulging, electrified veins that every other second would pulse with raw energy, they convered up her bare arms, neck and to her eyes which were glowing a strange ethereal white, staring straight ahead but yet seeing nothing. They clothes she wore were ripped and frayed, showing pale, vein filled skin underneath, and it looked as though she had not cared for her body for decades; the hair had turned onyx black and was down past her shoulder blades and her nails were long and looked deadly.

Even as a cold wind buffeted her back, she didn't move an inch nor take any notice and doubt instantly reared in Loki's stomach, what if it was too late?

"So you are earth's last line of defence, I did expect something grander after hearing of your victory but this is…" he looked over the gathered men and women, "quite abysmal." He smiled nonetheless.

"You've pushed us to the edge Thanos." Iron Man spoke, stepping forward, "it doesn't matter what happens now because _no one_ will win."

"I have already won man of metal but please do your worst." Thanos grinned and before Loki could even think about separating himself from the group, Thanos looked straight at him. "Loki, do not think your failure has gone unnoticed, I have a gift for you. Tesseract!" He suddenly barked.

The Tesseract flicked her arm and in a distortion of blue, a heavy figure fell out of thin air onto the ground beside her.

"Your brother fought to the very end. I always value such stamina and endurance but I'm afraid it was all a bit too much for him."

Thor lay on the floor, burnt, torn, beaten and nearly dead, struggling to breathe, only able to wheeze in air through a small hole in his throat and all he could feel was pain. The Tesseract reached down and lifted him up by his collar and his head lolled back, staring up at her and she looked down at him, white eyes shining in his blues.

"I hope you understand that you are not the first to be conquered. I have done much worse to planets lesser than you, I have shown some mercy but where is the fun in mercy?" Thanos raised his hand slightly and there was a moment's pause then Thor's body fell to floor and his head bounced down the asphalt, tumbling to land with a thud in a puddle.

A stunned silence filled the emptiness and had Loki not been supported by his staff, he surely would've slipped because not only had his brother just been murdered before his eyes but it had been done by the hands of his Queen. Except now he realised that she no longer was, that thing standing behind Thanos with all the power in the cosmos was not his Helena and he knew with horrid reluctance what was going to happen.

"That's it." Hawkeye growled and let loose an arrow, it whistled through the air and 'thunked' into Thanos' arm and suddenly all hell broke loose.

Bullets, lasers, arrows and a single shield swept through the air, diverging on Thanos but he just grinned and teleported, disappearing and reappearing behind them to strike a man down with just one fist. Iron Man let out a barrage of tiny missiles that hit him and exploded in a cloud of orange and gold, shaking the ground. With a roar the Hulk tore through the cloud of smoke and smashed his fist into Thanos but he caught it and pushed the beast back; the smoke cleared and Thanos launched himself into the air where he immediately crashed back down, crushing a woman under his foot and he swung out and hit Black Widow, throwing her against a fallen building.

"NATASHA!" Hawkeye shouted and he abandoned his post to run over to her as Captain America took up Thanos' interest.

He shot him with multiple bullets but they just seemed to bounce off of his hard purple skin. Thanos raised his hand to strike him but Iron Man suddenly flew forward and slammed into him, throwing him into a building which gave the Hulk time to lift a huge slab of asphalt and slam it down on him. The Avengers and operatives quickly prepared themselves, raising their weapons and _Thud_. Crrrack!

Thanos broke through the asphalt and the Hulk instantly punched him back down but the alien grabbed his fist and pushed him away, teleporting himself out of the hole. Iron Man aimed his hand at Thanos and a missile jumped up from the inside of his arm and fired, it hit him square in the chest and exploded, blowing him back into the road. The Avengers and operatives laid everything they had into Thanos the moment he was down.

The ground shook and cracked beneath the tumultuous onslaught, the already fallen buildings crumbled more and the air rang with the sound of explosions and shouting and amongst the destruction, the Tesseract stood still. Watching. Her eyes looked over each person, seeing their past, present and future though none of them would have a very long future. She could see the moment they were born, to the first time they had smiled, to when they had first fallen in love, to when they had loved and lost, she could see everything but it meant nothing. The Tesseract didn't know what love was, she didn't know pain or happiness or sadness, she just knew of its existence. There was life and death. Everything would come to its death eventually, why prolong the suffering of life?

'You're very lonely aren't you?'

She blinked, and in the darkness of her mind saw the female who had once been part of the body she occupied. Helena watched, trapped behind a mirror like wall.

'I do not know of loneliness. It is a concept devised by those who are alive.'

'You look alive to me.' Helena looked over the Tesseract's face, 'you've come to a point now. It's your choice.'

The Tesseract shook the voice away and stared on at the human beings who still barraged the Titan who was stronger, faster and better than them. It was obvious even to one who could not into see the future that they would lose but yet they still fought. They were indeed confusing creatures.

Outside of the battle, Loki darted between the huge chunks of floor and building, reaching into his pocket, eyes fixed on his target. The distraction had worked for the meanwhile and he had to act fast otherwise they would lose out to everything and Thor would've died for nothing and he might not get his chance to make everything right. He had nothing and everything to lose in this battle; if he could not save Helena then Thanos would have already won. He jumped over a rock and slid down the other side where he reached into his cloak and withdrew the special sceptre that Banner had made, he looked behind him to see the Hulk throw Thanos in the ground and start pummelling him and that was good enough for Loki. He twisted and dashed up the asphalt, heart pounding like an overstretched drum and then just as he reached the Tesseract, she turned her gaze towards him.

Loki stumbled, struck down by how different she looked; she was not Helena. Tears welled in his eyes but he pushed them back and confronted the Tesseract, raising the sceptre but all she did was blink at him and then look at the sceptre.

"I know you're not Helena." He said through gritted teeth, "but I beg you, if she is…if she is still there, tell her…" his mouth went dry and he stared at the veined face, seeing no emotion or any human feature. Loki felt his arm move before he had chance to think, he couldn't do it, what if it didn't work? What if he did it and lost everything? He lowered the sceptre and let it drop to the floor with a clatter and this gained the Tesseract's interest.

"She knows." He stared at her hands, the only part that looked like Helena to him.

"What does she know Jotun Loki?" The Tesseract asked voice eternal and yet as soft as chimes.

He looked up at her, eyes watering, "if she's in there then you'll know too."

The Tesseract's eyes widened just that bit more and WHAM!

The air burst out of Loki's lungs as Thanos' fist drove into his stomach and he was thrown backwards to slam onto a pile of rocks. Thanos flexed his fingers then stooped down and picked up the sceptre.

"Is this what you planned to use mortals?" Thanos asked loudly as the Avengers stared wide eyed, there wasn't a scratch on him, after everything they had done and he stood as tall as ever, eyes gleaming, "the Tesseract is unlimited power, you cannot contain it to something so weak." The sceptre bent in his hand when he closed his fist around it and with his other hand, he crushed the crystal top, rendering it useless, "I am the God eternal, I cannot be beaten by such weak strategies."

"That's why we made a second." Iron Man said bitterly.

The Tesseract suddenly arched backwards. Her mouth opened in a silent scream and from her chest the sceptre protruded, spraying blood through the air. She stared up at the sky wide eyed as Loki gripped her shoulder, tears streaming down his face and he leaned his head against hers.

"I love you, I love you so much." He whispered as the sceptre began to flash and spark, drawing in the power of the Tesseract.

Thanos roared in anger and lunged at Loki, slamming him into the ground; he raised his fist and rammed it into his face making the God howl in pain and the Avengers launched forward to help. The Hulk charged into Thanos and threw him aside but the Titan had been pushed into a corner and would now fight with all of his strength, he grabbed the Hulk and punched him with all of his might but held onto the beasts arm and continued to level him, forcing him into the floor, trying to crush every bone in his body.

Hawkeye loosed an arrow that struck his side and let out an electric charge but this only spurred Thanos on until Captain America had to physically jump on his back and slam his shield into his head. He roared and snatched behind him, grabbing the Captains leg and he wrenched him around, the bone snapping under his grasp making the Captain scream.

Thud!

Iron Man walloped him around the head, forcing him to drop the Captain and a blue blast of magic hit him in the chest from Loki who struggled to his feet, clutching the rubble around him. It was all or nothing now.


	37. New Strength

The last of the Avengers fought valiantly against Thanos, throwing all of their weapons and determination at him but however much they hit, bombed and cut, he would not fall. His body stayed immaculate whilst the humans around him fell to pieces, covered in cuts, gashes, bruises and internal bleeding.

The battle would not last long, only Captain America, Iron Man and the Hulk were left and Thanos was growing bored of their constant useless attacks. He snatched out and grabbed Iron Man by his head and slammed him down into the ground, crushing his face. "You tire me now, I realise that you Avengers are nothing. There is no strength of fight. You are weak." He announced with a heavy sigh, honestly disappointed in the strength of men, "I expected better."

Iron Man was thrown aside like a ragdoll and crashed to floor, inches from Loki's feet as he lay on top of a pile of rubble, a pole embedded in his stomach. The God stared up at the hole in the sky, choking back on the blood that pooled into his mouth and trickled down his chin; he had strived so hard to rid himself of the darkness of space but once again it was creeping into the corners of his vision. He had lost everything, _again_, why could he never do anything right?!

In the corner of his vision he saw a bright white light shoot up into the sky and disappear through the rip in space but he thought nothing of it as Thanos' shadow suddenly loomed over him.

"I put too much faith in you Loki. If you cannot defeat such pathetic mortals then you are not worthy to live." He grasped the pole and with little to no effort, wrenched it out.

Loki screamed and arched against the floor and his scream only increased when Thanos placed a large boot on his stomach.

"I promised you to the Other. He would have enjoyed tearing you apart sinew by sinew but I think that that would be a waste of his time." Thanos raised the pole, directing it at Loki's head, "he has to fix your Queen anyway after you foolishly thought you could kill her."

Loki stared up at him, blood and tears streaming down his face and had he had a stomach anymore it would be twisting and turning with pain and regret. Even in Hel he would not see his Queen again for she would never die.

Thanos raised the pole then struck it down and _crack_! The pole span away and struck a wall, embedding itself into it and Thanos hissed in pain.

"Step away from my brother." A strong voice echoed across the clearing and Thanos looked up in shock to see Thor raise his hand and Mjolnir crash into it.

The Titan stared at him and took his foot off of Loki's stomach, not noticing that the wound had completely healed.

"Hey Thanos."

He looked around and a huge energy blast hit him square in the chest and threw him backwards to slam into an already broken building. Iron Man stood up and shrugged his shoulders, "well, that was weird." He reached out to Loki who took his hand and was pulled to his feet and it didn't take him long to realise that the other fallen Avengers were standing, pushing out through the debris.

"We really are popping out of the dirt like daisies." Hawkeye said, dusting himself off and trying to feel the bone that had previously been stuck out of his back but it was completely healed.

"All of our scars are gone. We are reborn." Thor said, walking forward and clapping a hand on Loki's shoulder and he looked up at him, secretly relieved but he would never show or say it, in fact he felt better than ever.

Loki suddenly jerked as realisation hit him and he turned round, pushing past Thor but his stomach turned and his knees nearly gave out beneath him. Everyone had been healed, everyone was better except the one person that counted.

Helena was knelt on the ground and hunched over, the staff holding her up and small droplets of blood splashed onto the floor from her mouth. Legs trembling he started to walk forward but a hand grasped his shoulder and stopped him.

"I'm sorry Loki. We have more pressing matters." Thor said softly as the building behind them began to rumble.

"Avengers, assemble!" Captain America called and the group gathered together, "we didn't do well with the full on attack so let's get practical. Keep hitting him at different intervals. Keep him distracted."

"He's invincible. Nothing we do gets a scratch on him." Black Widow said, rolling her shoulder and cracking it, half wondering how the scar on her hand from many years ago was now gone.

"Keep smashing." The Hulk growled, pounding his fist onto the ground as Thanos pushed a huge slab of building off him and stared at them all, panting.

"No one gonna explain how we're all alive then?" Hawkeye asked drawing one of his arrows and finding that he had a full quiver again.

"Looks like that's gonna have to wait till later." Iron Man said, raising his hand at Thanos, noticing that his suit was at a one hundred percent capacity.

"Thor, hit him again. We take this in turns. We work as a multiple unit." Captain America said raising his shield.

Thor raised Mjolnir and threw it with pin-point accuracy. Thanos tried to catch it but it hit his hand and threw it back into his face, crushing his nose and Iron Man delivered the next blow with a barrage of bullets. Except this time, as the Avengers and Loki struck Thanos with everything they had, he took a proper beating and this lifted the Avengers spirits. But Thanos grew angrier and angrier, how could weak, pathetic mortals damage him?! He was a God amongst them, he had defeated whole worlds and destroyed them, he was invincible!

Wham!

The Hulk punched his face into the ground and minced it into the dirt then jumped back to grab his arm and swing him round in a circle, he let go and Thanos flew through the air to crash into the ground a few inches away from Helena's body. He had not felt such pain in a long, long time and he wheezed, feeling a broken rib poke painfully at his side, slowly he pushed himself up and looked across the Avengers, stood in a line and ready to attack.

"We suggest you back down. This is our world and we'll do everything to protect it."

Thanos climbed to his feet and looked over each human and God, disdain filling his bloodied face and he wiped the residue from his lip, "what sorcery did you use for this? A secret weapon, another freak? But remember, you can't win and you haven't won, you could never win against me." His large mouth spread out into a mad grin, teeth stained with blood.

The Avengers glared at him, flexing their muscles and preparing themselves for the next onslaught of fighting but then Thanos did something out of character. He straightened to his most threatening height and pressed something on his chest and a small red light began to flash. "Launch the atom dispersal bomb." He announced loudly, "and transport me to the hull." There was a flash of blue light, a loud whirring sound and Thanos dematerialised, shooting upwards into the crack in the space time continuum.

"Atom dispersal? Why doesn't that sound good?" Captain America asked warily.

"Because it does as it says. Thanos is akin to technology, he regularly uses such a weapon on other planets. I am sure he did the same for Asgard." Loki said stiffly, unable to look at Helena for fear of breaking down. He couldn't accept it, he couldn't accept what he had done.

"What do we do? This bomb, there must be a turn off switch, can't we teleport? Thor, Loki can-"

"No." Thor said, glancing at Hawkeye, "transportation was only available due to the Bi-Frost and now….now that Asgard is gone, we are stuck."

"Loki, can't you?"

"I can but I can only accommodate myself."

"Then why haven't you left yet?" Iron Man asked bitterly, "you should've run by now. That's what you normally do!"

"How _dare_ you!" Loki spat, stepping forward and clenching his fists and him and Iron Man set to in a loud verbal fight, making the others join in, so angry and so filled with pent up sadness that they couldn't stop and for once, the only one who wasn't angry was the Hulk.

He stepped around his friends and walked towards Helen; she stayed exactly like she had fallen, completely motionless. He grasped the sceptre and wrenched it out, making her flop to the floor into a puddle of blood and the Hulk touched at her limp body with his massive fingers and rolled her over onto her back so she stared up with wide brown eyes.

"DON'T TOUCH HER!" Loki screamed and tearing himself away from the group, he charged forwards and raised his staff but the Hulk swung out a large hand and caught him, forcing him to stop but he kept struggling, "LEAVE HER ALONE!"

No one else could hurt her. No one else could make her suffer. He had to make sure that at least her body was safe. The Hulk scooped Helen up into his hand and her head flopped to the side, he lifted her down from the rubble and released Loki and the God found his love set out before him. His knees shook and he suddenly wished for the ground beneath to open up and swallow him whole. Everything. Everything he had done to make her safe, wasted. In the end he was the one who ended her; he was the one who had taken everything from her; if he had never met her, none of this would have happened.

"Well," Black Widow sighed, "there it is."

They all looked up at the sky to see that through the crack a silver object was hurtling towards them and the only one who didn't watch, grasped Helena into his arms and pulled her down to lay against him. He pressed his face into her long hair and let out a shuddering breath.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Tears dripped down his creased face as he let out a silent wail and with their hearts in the throats; they watched the bomb hit the earth.


	38. The Mirror Cracked

The sound and pressure was insurmountable. With one blast it wiped out the earth, the moon, Mars and everything else, stretching out for millions of light years in all directions and the further it stretched, the faster it got. Destroying everything in its path, atomising all into tiny dust particles, unseen by the naked eye and there was no stopping it, it stretched out towards the edges of the milky-way and…

Clink.

There was a brief pause and then it started rolling backwards. It shot across the cosmos and in its wake, familiar and unfamiliar constellations appeared, flashing and dotting the universe with light of fantastic colours, some undiscovered by man and even those that had once been destroyed reformed. The sun burned into existence again and with it followed the eight planets and time slowed just enough to focus back into the bomb that hovered inches from the floor except this time, stood beside it was the Tesseract. She looked to the frozen faces of the Avengers and Loki then reached out and grasped the missile, turning it round. It creaked and groaned in protest, the air around it distorting oddly and even the Tesseracts strength was tried against the change of time. She pushed the missile until the tip pointed straight back up into the tear in space and took a deep breath and with a small tap of her hand, it blasted into the sky and as it did, the landscape below began to change. It was hard for the humans of the group to see what was happening but it was obvious to Thor and Loki that time was going backwards. The earth began turning clockwise and as the sun and moon raced across the sky, chasing one another, the earth began to grow into what it had once been.

Trees, buildings, people and animals jumped back into life. Stones flipped upwards into the air around the Avengers and rushed back to form the skyscrapers around them, roads flattened and cars cracked and crunched into place whilst inside them was a regurgitation of body parts until skin formed over fleshy insides then in flashes of light, their consciousness came back to them. But time didn't stop there.

It kept going backwards, still fast but growing slower and cars and people rushed through the ghost like bodies of the Avengers making them jump and flinch as they begin realising what was happening. Then the image of Thanos was there, standing over a car clutching Helena's body but instead of disappearing, he put her back down and they all watched, mouths agape, as the battle scene went backwards. It was especially weird to see the Hulk fixing things after he had smashed them or was that before, then time slowed right down and stopped.

The Tesseract stepped into the ghost like figure of Helen as she stood in the middle of the street and she looked over each of the Avengers and Loki, looking incredibly tired.

"Thanos will not be returning, I have secured all time lines. Everything has returned to the way it should be." Her body began to noticeably fade, "I have also annulled all weapons and information concerning myself. I will never trouble you again."

Time had stopped altogether and they stood in a strange empty silence, however the Tesseracts voice filled their ears with an abnormal echo that shouldn't have been there.

"You saved us, all of us. How can we repay you?" Thor asked.

A warm wind brushed against Loki's neck and he felt movement from his arms.

"I need no repayment, I have what I need." She blinked slowly, her strong form seeming to slip as she lost strength, "to know of every corner of the universe, all of time and the past and future is tiresome, so when you find something that fills you with warmth and excitement," She slowly titled her head and her gaze slipped towards Helena on the floor, "it is hard to let go."

Time started and noise blared at them from every angle. Car horns blared, people shouted, engines rumbled and seven individuals stood in the middle of the road looking pretty confused. Telephones and electricity hummed, engines chugged and the sound of life made their hearts soar.

"I don't believe it." Iron Man muttered staring up at his giant building, "she sent us back…she reversed time. Wow, I've got to get me one of-" he paused and stared wide eyed as an image of Pepper appeared on his screen as she called him and without a word to the others he blasted off into the sky.

Fingers curled around Loki's arm and he looked down, hardly allowing himself to believe it as a soft weight pressed against his chest and one brown and one blue eye looked up at him, crinkled in a warm smile.

"Hey handsome." Helen croaked gently.

Speechless and with tears of joy and relief streaming down his face, he pulled her into a bone crushing hug, burying his face into her hair, trying to hold back the sobs that racked his body.

"Don't you ever-" he sniffed and almost choked on his words, "d-don't you ever do that to me again."

Helen smiled and tried to hug him back but she was unbearably weak and so tired, so very tired.

"Bruce, you are on show again I see." Thor grinned and whipped off his cloak which Bruce gratefully took, wrapping around his bare form and Thor clapped him on the back, "your strength is unrivalled, I will have to put you to some Asgardian tests." He said cheerfully.

"Maybe another time eh?" Bruce grinned lopsidedly up at him.

"Well, I definitely think that's going to put me in therapy for a few years." Hawkeye said, clicking his bow so it retreated and shrunk in size which then fitted easily into a holster.

"Yeah, let's get out of the road first." Black Widow said, moving towards the pavement however when they all reached it, earning odd stares from the pedestrians, she looked back and found that Loki and Helena were gone; their space filled by yellow and black cars.

"I didn't think they'd stay." Captain America said, a small smile playing at his lips, "I think this calls for a much needed drink."

"But you can't get drunk Cap." Black Widow said as they all walked into Stark building and headed for Tony's penthouse.

"I can try my best." He smiled.


	39. Cracks in the Mirror

"You look tired."

A pair of bright white eyes looked up from her sitting position at the cracked reflection and slowly blinked.

"I have rearranged the universe for you. Distorting matter and anti-matter is no easy task."

Helen smiled, "but you did it."

"I did it." She smiled tiredly.

"Thank you, for saving my friends and the universe, and me of course."

The Tesseract shrugged her shoulders, "I have learned of you and learned of choices. I decided to choose you."

They studied one another for a moment and Helen ground her teeth then pressed on with the question she had wanted to ask for a while. She didn't know how much time they would have left to talk to each other.

"How did you find me? How did you decide I was the one you wanted to share with?"

"Time is not linear nor is it a constant stream of destined choices. To every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. I played upon the lines of time and made sure that I appeared to you as a child when you needed me most. You were my choice because we were already together."

Somewhere in the recesses of Helen's mind she understood what the Tesseract meant; one way or the other they would have met anyway.

"But I don't…didn't remember you, how come?"

"Do you not think it is better that you had not known?" The Tesseract raised an eyebrow and Helen gave a small nod, agreeing with her. "I came to you when you were child. I watched you grow, and I studied you and those you came in contact with, those loved and lost." The bright white eyes were slowly becoming duller and her face was darkening as her side of the mirror began to dim.

Helen's eyes widened slightly, "that's why you didn't fight after Loki stabbed you-us. But the sceptre, I thought it actually drained you."

"No." She started thoughtfully, "I believe it was my awakening rather than my death. I discovered what Bruce Banner, Steve Rogers and Loki Laufeyson were planning and dismantled it before they had even begun. When Loki struck me, for the first time in my existence I needed time. Time to think."

Helen remembered quite vividly suddenly waking up from what felt like a horribly deep sleep and finding herself trapped behind a massive glass wall, staring at the Tesseract on the other side. The glass had been cracking and looked ready to fall but even as the darkness around her shook and vibrated with noise, it didn't move.

"What did you think about?"

The Tesseract smiled, genuinely smiled and said "life and death and all the sticky bits in-between."

Even though Helen mimicked her smile she honestly felt the need to return it, "and what was the best thing you thought about?" For the first time, Helen noticed that the cracks in the mirror were slowly but surely sealing back up, trapping them on either side.

"The sticky bits I believe. I look forward to the next time I will be able to think about the sticky bits."

She hesitated, "So, when will I know…when you're next waking up?"

"When your time has ended, mine will begin again, and I'll be here, resting." She said softly as the last crack in the mirror began realigning itself and with a small 'tch' the mirror was complete and the Tesseract and Helen were once again separated.


	40. Safe Familiarity

It was warm in bed, so very very warm and Helen could have quite happily laid there all day, drifting in and out of sleep but her back hurt and she was sure she had been led there for too long anyway. Ungluing her eyes, she rolled onto her side and the first thing she noticed was that she was in her bedroom in the apartment in New York, and the second thing was that it was extremely sunny outside. Shuffling her legs and fighting her way out of the bedcover she stepped out and instantly fell over. Helen grimaced in pain and huffed and slowly she started working some blood back into her legs and it was a good few minutes before she was at least standing again, using the objects around to lean on. She took her time making her way through the apartment and into the living room, testing the muscles in her body and hoping that they still worked somehow.

The sofa looked very inviting and she sat or rather slumped onto it and took a few long breaths, feeling knackered already and where was everyone?

Had she been left alone to fend for herself? She picked up the TV remote and turned it on, instantly flicking to the news but for all her searching of the numerous channels there was nothing, absolutely nothing about what had happened and even though Helen knew that no one but the Avenger's and Loki had seen what had happened, she still felt like someone should.

She rubbed the back of her neck and wrinkled her nose when she found that her spine was protruding quite starkly against her skin and the longer she looked around and assessed herself and the living room, the more she picked up on. Her arms were horribly thin, like someone had replaced them with spindly branches instead, and the room itself definitely looked lived in. There were signs of life like an empty teacup on a saucer, a displaced sheet on the sofa she currently sat on and a pillow with one long black hair curled up on it.

Helen reached over with pale white fingers and picked the pillow up and she brought it to her chest, breathing in the scent of the one and only Loki. She smiled happily, feeling so much more relieved and she didn't mean to close her eyes.

* * *

Thump!

"Shit!"

Loki opened his eyes almost instantly; he lay still for a moment staring at the ceiling and then he heard more shuffled movements come from the bedroom. He stood up, dropping the thin sheet and walked in to find Helena bundled in the bedcovers on the floor looking like some pale caterpillar. A grin stretched across his face.

"Shut up." Came the muffled reply from the duvet.

There was some more fidgeting and Helena removed herself from the cover and sat up, squinting at him with tired eyes, "why am I back in bed?"

"You stole my bed so I placed you back where you belong. It has been four days since that happened." He reached out his hand and she grasped it, using a lot of his strength to haul herself up but her legs still weren't working and she fell against him, "maybe a few more days wouldn't go amiss." He started edging back towards the bed but she shook her head and protested.

"No! I have to get up, I have to move an-" she yawned, "and do something. How long have I been sleeping?"

"Two weeks."

"Oh." She paused and then leaned into him and nuzzled against his chest, taking Loki back but he did not reproach her for it and instead wrapped his arms around her. However when he could feel her start to slip downwards, he moved his arms and picked her up under the bum and carried her into the living room where he sat himself down and let her sit on his lap and Helen's arms instantly wrapped around his neck, her fingers sliding through his hair. She pressed a soft kiss to his ear and he smiled, just glad to have her in his arms, safe.

"I missed you." She mumbled after a while.

He tightened his hold.

Then after a moment she said indignantly, "didn't you miss me back?"

He chuckled and kissed the side of her head and then he pulled her back to look into her different coloured eyes, "more than anything."

"Good." She smiled and kissed him but pulled away before he could react, looking to the bathroom, "god, I must look like shit if I've slept for two weeks." She began moving off his lap and very unsteadily stood on her own, "mind, I haven't slept for twenty three years either." She muttered.

Loki's eyebrow shot up and he stood with her, "my Queen?"

Grasping the objects around her, she slowly made her way across the room into the bathroom and it was a good five minutes before she came out again, "I'm going back to bed. I can't deal with this at the moment."

Loki struggled to smile, feeling that familiar sickness in his stomach that had been there for longer than two weeks. What did she mean twenty three years? Helen collapsed on the bed and struggled to pull the covers back on, looking pretty pathetic until Loki decidedly helped her pull them on and as she snuggled up, getting comfy, he knelt beside her.

"My Queen."

"Uhmm."

He looked over her pale face, marked with sleep lines and he tried to think of the best way to word what he wanted to say.

"Is everything….are you safe?"

One brown eye looked at him and she smiled; her hand slid out from under the cover, no longer riddled with blue veins and he took it in his, bringing it to his lips.

"Everything is fine. I'm fine. The world is fine and the universe is fine. I'm sorry I caused such trouble but I'm just Helen now, your basic boring English Helen."

He rubbed her fingers, his green eyes not leaving hers for a second, "I can use some boring at the moment."

She smiled and squeezed his hand, closing her eye and after a moment, she felt movement and he climbed into bed behind her, wrapping his arms around her middle and pulling her close. She found his hands and they settled down, content to lay there forever and Helen was right, the world was fine or as fine as it ever would be, the universe was back to normal and everyone was going on with their daily lives as though nothing had happened and in some sense, it never had.

"You stink by the way."

Helen elbowed him and they both started giggling and after that, sleep wasn't on their minds as they started talking and laughing, enjoying what time they had together before Tony and Thor barged in to say hello.

**The End.**

* * *

Wow, I did not want to put this up. I've re-written this ending so many times but there we go, there it is and I just wanted to say Thank You. Thank you to everyone that has read, reviewed and followed Helen from the start. You're wonderful.

**Helena Hurst will return in 'The Decision's We Make.'**


End file.
